


Ripples

by Moonrose001



Series: Secret chord [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Asexuality Spectrum, Cuddling, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Homesickness, M/M, Merperson Lance (Voltron), Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 02, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-10-23 11:52:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10718829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonrose001/pseuds/Moonrose001
Summary: When he finally gets there, he at first thinks that Lance is dead. He’s lying motionlessly on his side, only wearing his undersuit. Oddly enough it’s ripped off from the waist down, and Keith barely has time to breath as he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Lance’s bare bottom.He takes Lance’s hands in his, and they’re ice cold.It’s only when the hands squeeze his that Keith looks up in shock, and sees that Lance’s eyes are open and the asshole is smiling crookedly at him.“Your jacket’s on my butt,” he remarks hoarsely.





	1. Beware the water

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in the Voltron-fandom... pls treat me well. This work is mostly pre-slash, but if the demand is there I'll also publish the second part of the series, which will be Lance-POV and more Shklance-focused. Otherwise enjoy! 
> 
> Also, shoutout to Ashacrone for betaing *LICKS HER AGGRESSIVELY*

Lance is screwed, and not even in the fun way. He’s revisiting Thu, the planet where he crashed with Hunk after the corrupted whole wormhole glitch, and it’s not looking good for him right now. He can’t even make use of his lion’s underwater capabilities, since he doesn’t want to lead the Galra to the nice merpeople he met there. Behind him, Hunk and Pidge are trying to chase the Galra away from the visible hole in the ice where the merpeople, after Lance and Hunk’s departure, have taken to coming up for sun and air. Lance makes a sharp turn, going for the thickest part of the ice, and lets the dozen fighter ships following him crash into the into the frozen surface. 

”Yeah, take that, culo!” he whoops and then yelps when they tug on Blue’s tail. She whips her tail in irritation, but out of the fighter ship Galra jump out like fleas onto Blue’s hull and Lance sees the grave error in fighting in a place that actually has gravity. They run up along her back, and he makes her jump and fly around to shake them off, but maybe they took inspiration from Spiderman, because they’re not letting go that easily.

”Your lion’s got fleas,” Keith dryly comments.

“How dare you,” Lance scoffs. “My lion is above fleas.”

Keith sniffs. ”Need some help with that?”

”I got it,” Lance answers, trying not to be insulted by the offer. He was trying to mature about Keith. ”Just cover me for a second.”

”Lance, what are you – ” Shiro starts, but he’s defending the Castle anyway, so Lance climbs out of Blue’s mouth and perches on her head. She hums in concern, but he reassures her silently. She stops making hoops as Lance takes position and shoots the assholes down himself, and thinks are going real well for him, all the training as paid off, when Blue suddenly tumbles. He hears Keith and Pidge shout as Lance falls off her head, her jaws snapping helplessly as she attempts to catch him. As a last resort she sweeps her tail, breaking his fall for a bit, before he lands hard on the ice and glides over it, until he feels the thick edge of the hole in the ice and his body falling down it. And then everything turns black. 

\------

After Blue has shaken off her attackers, she follows Lance into the hole in the ice and into the water. When the Galra has been defeated, the team is quick to follow and they find her standing still besides a deep fissure in the sea floor. The problem is clear: She’s too big to squeeze through, and if she tried to beat her way through, it might bury Lance in rubble. 

Red and Green can squeeze their way through, but the darkness and pressure of the depth of the waters challenge their armor.  

The odds are overwhelmingly dark. They go to the merpeople for help, and after a few days one comes forward, and says that they saw him sinking, but by the time they got there, he had already fallen through the crack.

The armor shouldn’t have let him sunk at all. It was waterproof and had boosters to get through the water.

“Unless it was pierced or broken,” Pidge says. “If it was broken, it’d have filled with water and would have dragged him down.”

They have hope for a while. But later, they know there’s no use, when Blue’s glowing, self-aware eyes suddenly shut down in the middle of the night, and her force field comes up. Hunk and Shiro tow her up from the water in the morning, and store her in the Castle. 

They don’t talk about it, as they sit and stare at their bowls of food. They would never admit it, but no one expected Lance to die like that. He should’ve died trying to pull some dumb heroic act. But he shouldn’t have died in the water, in the sea which he loved so much. 

It’s Allura who ends up giving them direction: “Even in the armor didn’t break, he should’ve run out of oxygen by now,” she quietly concludes. “He was probably unconscious for most of it. He wasn’t in pain.”

Hunk inhales shakily, tears already in his eyes. His hands are in fists. 

“The lion’s quintessence is bound to the Paladins,” Coran solemnly continues. “If someone knows if he’s alive, it would’ve been the Blue Lion. And she has gone to sleep.” 

Hunk’s lips start to tremble. Pidge stares at their hands. Keith is clenching his teeth. Allura tries to look at her Paladins, her expression hard. Shiro inhales deeply, tries to scrape his strength together for the team, even though he promised himself he wouldn’t let this happen to his team again.

“He wouldn’t have wanted us to dwell on this,” Shiro quietly says.

“They’ll pay,” Keith mutters. “For what they did.”

\-----

A week since Lance’s disappearance, they leave Thu that evening, and Allura starts the departure by sitting down at their dinner table. “If we’re going to defeat Zarkon, we must find a new Pala – “ Allura begins.

“Allura,” Shiro sharply interrupts. “Not now. Give this time.”

Hunk gets up and walks away quickly.

\-----

Coran is surprisingly gentle with the Paladins’ grief. By now, he has learned that humans grief for a longer period and that their ability to function gets lost in that period. And he knows that the Paladins are young, still innocent to tragedy. They’re only starting to understand grief; what it is, and what it does to you. 

But Allura expresses her grief in rage and productivity, just like she did when she found out about her father and Altea. She’s restless, manic almost, and keeps hinting and nudging at the Paladins, trying to make them realize that they need a new Paladin if they want revenge. Keith wants it as badly as  _ she does _ , but even he has a hard time accepting their need of a new blue Paladin. 

It was building up to a bigger conflict, but before it comes to that, the alarm wakes them all up one night. Coran is the first person at the scene, and he has just time enough to see Blue leave the hangars and fly away.

Allura is the next one there, and he explains what he saw. She sighs. “Perhaps, it’s finding a new paladin.”

“Could you quit with that,” Pidge snaps. 

“Let’s follow it,” Shiro suggests, putting a calming hand on Pidge’s shoulder. Underneath the thick cloth of the green sweater, it’s tense and more skinny than he remembers it to be. “Welcome the new pilot personally,  _ if _ that’s what Blue is doing. If they are anything like us, they’ll need an explanation.”

Allura gives Pidge and Hunk a helpless stare, before she goes to the panel to set the course. They follow Blue as she flies back through the galaxy they just crossed, and to their surprise she’s heading back to Thu. She’s faster than the Castle though, so by the time they land she’s dripping wet, and laying on her side, her paw out.

Keith is the first one out of his Lion, and as he runs ahead of them, he is starting to see the shape of Lance’s head, his hair almost black with water. 

When he finally gets there, he at first thinks that Lance is dead. He’s lying motionlessly on his side, only wearing his undersuit. Oddly enough it’s ripped off from the waist down, and Keith barely has time to breath as he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over Lance’s bare bottom. 

He takes Lance’s hands in his, and they’re ice cold. 

It’s only when the hands squeeze his that Keith looks up in shock, and sees that Lance’s eyes are open and the asshole is smiling crookedly at him.

“Your jacket’s on my butt,” he remarks hoarsely. 

Keith can only stare. “Someone bring a blanket with them.” 

No one replies, and the rest of the team soon surround Blue’s paw. They all stare at the icy boy in shock, afraid to talk, and Lance starts to grin.

“Lancelot wins again,” he says, and coughs when he tries to giggle. Hunk coos and covers him with the thick blanket. “Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no river wide enough, ain’t no Galra~“

“Can you feel your hands? Or your legs?” Allura interrupts.

“My what?” he asks.

“Your legs,” she says. “The ones you use to carry your body around with.”

“Legs?” Lance’s brows raise and he moves his neck and looks down. “Legs.”

“Can you?” Allura asks.

“I can’t feel my legs when I’m with you~” Lance sings, wiggling his feet, and all the humans groan at the ancient lyrics. “But I love it~” 

Hunk lifts him up from Blue’s paw.

Lance giggles like a child. “Bro!” Lance exclaims. “Mah man!”

“Good,” Hunk answers as he carries Lance towards the Castle, smiling and exhaling shakily as he says it. When did Hunk stop crying all the time? 

“Quickly get him inside,” Allura commands. “It’s a miracle he’s even talking.”

“How is Lance talking ever a miracle,” Pidge drawls, but they look beyond relieved.

“Coran, get a healing pod ready,” Allura says in the coms, and Shiro looks up at Blue and smiles. 

\----

Lance is sitting up and _still talking_ by the time the Castle has left the planet. The healing pod spew him out almost immediately, because apparently his hypothermia was mild and he only needs to cuddle Hunk for warmth before he’s temperature has stabilized. Instead of exhausted, he seems cheery and energetic and his useless chatter fills the eating hall for a while, all of them soaking in the sound. Letting themselves believe, that this is reality. Lance freaking survived. They try to ask him how he survived down there for more than a week, but he says he doesn’t really remember; only Blue snatching his body in the darkness and slowly drawing him towards the light of the sun (“It’s not your star!” Allura corrects as always. “Stop calling it Sun, when this is a completely different star than yours!”). 

\-----

After some weeks, a lot of fleets, a diplomatic catastrophe at a foggy planet, the sabotage of Haggar’s witchy stash at another planet, the Paladins and two Alteans have shaken off the near-death experience.

\----

After two months of Lance’s constant complaining, Allura agrees to a few days off at a planet, with a good habitat that is compatible with human biology and a tropical beach. They never actually thought they’d see the day when Allura agreed to give them vacation (“You relax when you sleep.”), but if one of them had Lance constantly gnawing at their face every free second, they probably would’ve complied even sooner than she did. So after having visited the Blade of Marmora to settle what they had to do about Haggar and Zarkon’s leftover army, they open a wormhole and arrive at a planet that could actually almost look like Earth: TR33. Except it’s green instead of blue. TR33 is pretty nice, and to their surprise they find that the break was actually very much needed, without them having really noticed. TR33 has a very slow rotation and a strong tilt, which means that the sun (“The star,” Allura correct.) never really goes down at TR33, and the darkest the sky get is a rosy sun dusk. The weather is mildly warm, the wind soft. Hunk immediately starts to experiment with the vegetation, and gathers seeds for his greenhouse. In the evening, they sit by the coast and build a campfire. Lance and Keith spend the day catching fish, their banter friendly and constant. It’s actually pretty nice. 

On the second day, Shiro is almost surprised when he really notices the changes in the scenario. Pidge’s isn’t as manic as they have been the past half year, Keith sleeps and relaxes more, Hunk has started to sing again when he gardens, Allura laughs, her hair let down, a style he hasn’t seen since he had met her and Coran. The smile lines around Coran’s eyes are becoming more prominent than the stressed ones on his forehead, and Shiro hasn’t felt any phantom pains in his arm since the evening before. The monotone sound of the waves hitting the shore is surprisingly calming, and the weird white canary-like birds that live at the beach has a gentle, uplifting song. 

“The Lions’ colors aren’t random,” Allura explained around the fire as the group has started to banter about whether their Lions were assigned to them by the colors of their clothes that day. “They are made of the quintessence of specific elements. Water, Fire, Earth, Forest and Air. The Paladins’ quintessence doesn’t only mirror their lions’; it mirrors certain nature elements as well.”

And Shiro suddenly understands why the team has been so much better on TR33 than any other planet’. He can see how Hunk’s fragile endurance has turned into a rock-like strength. How Pidge can be nerdy and innovative, not because of Voltron for once, but because of their renewed curiosity towards the universe. Every time Keith becomes impatient and restless, Lance diverts his energies into sparring, bantering and good-hearted competitions.

However, there’s one thing he can’t help but  not notice.

Lance isn’t getting in the water with them. Many times he returns from a swim before dawn has even cracked, a towel around his shoulders, his hair dripping, but never does he actually join them. At most he goes on the fishing boat with Keith. 

When they’re swimming together, he’s content to watch them from the shore, his eyes somewhat wistful as Pidge and Hunk go as far as daring him to get in. He diverts their attention, says he needs to get back some of the tan he’s lost in space, get some D-vitamin and all that. He begs Allura to extend the vacation a day more, and after some time she sighs and agrees. Pidge says they want to explore the cliffs a mile away, and the group soon agrees to the plan. 

For some reason, Shiro is starting to feel weird about it. Weird about Lance going out alone, but he can’t put a finger on why. When Keith goes to take a swim on the third evening by himself, Shiro goes as far as offering to go with him.

“Why?” Keith asks, and to any other person he’d sound hostile, but Shiro can hear the genuine worry and curiosity.

Shiro scratches his neck. “I’m honestly not sure how I feel about you going alone,” he answers. “We don’t know a lot about this planet, and you going with no armor or backup...”

Keith rolls his eyes. “Allura said there wasn’t anything in the waters to be wary off.”

“That’s bull,” Lance chips in, who has been oddly uninvolved in the smaller conversation, as he’s been filing his nails with an oyster shell he found on the beach.

When Keith and Shiro actually turn to listen to him, he stops filing and looks up with wide eyes.

“Why are you saying that?” Shiro asks.

“Nothing, no real reason,” he babbles, his lips thin. “I mean, her information is 10,000 years old, right? Who knows what’s in the water now.”

“If there’s something in the water, you can’t go out for your solo swims either,” Shiro says.

Lance drops his head back. “Relax, Old Man, I was kidding,” he groans and laughs nervously, obviously lying and trying to cover it up.

When Shiro only narrows his eyes, Lance sighs and throws his hands up. “Okay, alright, there’s something in the water. Something dangerous.” He whispers the last sentence in mock-horror. “Forbidden. Something handsome and – “

“It’s you isn’t it,” Keith flatly says.

“Yes,” Lance exclaims in delight, looking happy. “I’m glad you can admit I’m handsome.”

“I’ll go with you anyway,” Shiro tells Keith, and Keith huffs, throwing Lance a dirty look.

\-----

Keith mostly does water aerobics in the water, and tries not to be bothered about how Shiro reprimands him for nearing the deeper water where his feet can’t touch the ocean floor. He withstands the stern supervision, solely to finish his work out and only throws Shiro a look once or twice, which is better than how Keith acted in the beginning, when Shiro was his mentor at the Garrison. 

When they get back to the Castle, Shiro crashes hard and though he considers himself a light sleeper, it’s hard for him to wake up, even when he is wakened up by Keith shaking him.

“Lance snuck out,” he whispers. “He took a towel.”

Shiro groggily frowns at him, as Keith brings Shiro’s jacket. “Why didn’t you stop him?”

Keith grins evilly. “Where would the fun be in that?”

Shiro groans but knows he can’t let Keith go out there alone, not when it comes to Lance, so he takes his jacket and they go out.

The rosy dusk has turned into a golden dawn, so it’s easy to follow Lance’s footsteps. They walk for a surprisingly long time, until the Castle is merely a shape in the horizon, and the more they walk, the more stressed and irritated Shiro grows. When he airs out his thoughts, Keith only seems gleeful and he sighs internally. 

Abruptly, the footsteps stop at the edge of the water, but there’s no Lance in sight and no where he could’ve hidden.

Keith and Shiro look at each other in growing alarm, before Shiro whips around and shouts Lance’s name. His white bangs whip his face as the wind is stronger today, and it’s hard not to get sand grains in his eyes as he stares at the water. Keith goes in the opposite direction, back towards the Castle, also calling out for Lance but in more creative ways. Shiro keeps walking until he’s near the cliffs, which are transparent like amber with the color of red sand and by the wall of a cliff, he finds Lance’s towel. The green water is more murky by the cliffs, dark with some dark sort of sea weed. Shouting for Lance, Shiro climbs on top a particularly big rock to get a farther view, but Lance’s brown head is nowhere to be seen. And the cliffs are way too smooth to climb. 

He climbs back down. He takes off his shirt and puts that and Lance’s towel in clear view, a safe distance away from the waves, if Keith should come looking for him. He starts to walk into the water and when he is in deep enough, he dives. Beneath the surface he tries to look around, but the sun is not high enough on the sky for him to see properly. Old nightmares of Lance drowning in his armor start to play in his head, and his feet treads into something rubber-like. He tries to feel what it is with his foot, but as his feet touch it a second time, something very big and very sharp closes around his ankle and his body is pulled down.

\-----

The sun is bright and the wind is calm, when Shiro wakes up. He can feel something rough textured against his cheeks, and as he brushes at it, a thick layer of sand falls off. He blinks, and finds his lashes crusted with salt, and wipes it away, before the events prior come back to him. 

He hurries to sit up and stares around. He can see the misty figure of the Castle on the horizon, and the lions flying around. Disoriented, he realizes that he is way past the cliffs. He inhales deeply and tastes salt in his mouth and smells it in his nose.

His legs hurt, and when he looks down, he realizes they are strewn with bruises the shape and size of a shark bite, the rings scored with teeth wounds. Only the teeth of the animal that attacked him had clearly been smaller than a shark’s, since the wounds are not very deep. He’s about to get up to run to the Castle, which is a lot closer than when he got into the water, when he notices the trails in the sand.

There are two trails coming out from the water. One of the trails could be his, considering it matches his shoulder length. He must’ve been dragged out of the water, and now that he notices, he did wake up a safe distance away from the water, hence why the marks haven’t been washed away yet. The other trace looks like to have come from… hands? That might be fingers, but they match duck feet more. There are no footsteps, only weird half-moons. Kinda like when fish get stuck on land. Only this fish had to be around 2 meters long. Shiro holds his breath and looks at the water with a fear he didn’t have before.

\----

When Shiro gets back to the Castle, he can hear Lance and Keith arguing all the way from the end of the hall towards the Castle Bridge. 

“You were the one who went out at night even though he said we shouldn’t go alone!” Keith exclaims.

“I didn’t go into the water and you let me go,” Lance shouts back.

“You went into the water!” Keith accused. “We could see your footsteps end at the water.”

“Alright, so either I left the Castle naked or I bathed fully clothed,” Lance says, crossing his arms. 

“I saw you grab a towel,” Keith growled. “We found it with Shiro’s shirt!”

“How can my footprints end a few hundred meters away from the Castle, but my towel be by the cliffs? It must’ve washed ashore from one of the other days!”

“Enough,” Shiro interrupts, and both of them look up. Keith quickly hurries to Shiro’s side, and puts his hand on his arm.

“Your legs,” he says with horror.

“Guys,” Pidge says, their voice sounding from the coms. “You should come see this.”

They quickly join them outside the Castle. Where Lance’s footsteps had disappeared, now laid a huge creature. It was the size of a shark, with green-black rubber skin, grey tiger marks on its back, with two mouths. One of the mouths has the size of what bit Shiro’s legs, its teeth flat and short. The other mouth is rounder and toothless, big enough to easily swallow Shiro if it needed. 

It’s dead, but they don’t know how. It doesn’t bleed or have any wounds. It lies too far away from the water to have been beached. Shiro looks at the sand, and sees that a new trail of footprints were on sand, where the creature clearly had been dragged into land. 

Shiro looks up and sees Lance stand by the Castle, his arms crossed, his eyes darker than usual.

The new trail of footprints matched Lance’s old ones. 


	2. Treading water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So many thanks for all the love and the comments! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well :D Again, this work wouldn't have been anything if it wasn't for Ashacrone. Go check her [latest Voltron story out](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10293659/chapters/22773677).

Hunk soon joins them, and he’s staring at the footprints like Shiro is.

Then he visibly shakes the eeriness of the situation off, and smiles: “Who’s helping me preparing this?”

Pidge groans. “There’s a dead shark… thing… on the beach, and you want to eat it.”

Hunk shrugs. “Protein is protein. We’ll scan its toxicity, and if we can eat it, there’ll be food for months.”

They roll their eyes. “I don’t like fish.”

“Your loss, not mine,” Hunk giddily says, already going back to the Castle to get the scanner. Lance, Shiro notices, is gone.

Shiro moves closer to inspect the footprints. He lifts a brow, and looks at Keith, who has also started inspected them.

“I don’t like this. We need to get out of here,” Keith says. Shiro nods, and looks down again. The footprints have already started to smudge away by the wind. Hunk returns with the scanner, and take a long slice at the thing, testing the meat.

He hums. “Kinda high on vitamin A, but it won’t be a problem unless we eat the organs.” And with that he gleefully pulls out a carving knife, and starts cutting the creature’s thick layer of rubbery skin and fat off to get to the salmon-like insides.

“Ew, no,” Keith says. “What if it has bits of Shiro inside it.”

Hunk scoffs. “As if these teeth could tear into anything. Go get Lance, he’s not getting out of this.”

\----

It takes Hunk and later also Lance all day to cut the creature’s muscle and flesh off the bones, but in the end, they have almost a month’s worth of fillets, which they store in the freezer room. As Hunk goes to prepare the food, Lance stubbornly insists on dragging what remains of the carcass into the sea. He does it with a weird intensity, and even snaps at Keith when the guy actually tries to offer Lance his help.

Keith and Pidge have kept of the steady stream of disgusted complaining, but at dinner time they all (except Pidge) enjoy what Hunk cooked up. The consistency of the meat is thick like squid but juicier, and the taste kinda reminds him of lobster, but is more on earthy side than sweet. Lance compliments Hunk to skies as he eats with gusto, his cheeks red and grin broad. He’s wearing a lot of clothes, Shiro notices, but his attention is soon redirected.

In the evening, as Shiro is trying to fall asleep, there’s a knock on his door. He sits up, kinda relieved that he didn’t get to dwell in his thoughts for a second longer.

“Come in,” Shiro calls out.

The door slides open, and Lance is standing there. He’s wearing his robe, and has bound a towel around his neck.

He looks embarrassed. “Were you sleeping?” he asks.

Shiro shrugs. “I can sleep when you leave.”

Lance smiles crookedly, and the small smile is so foreign on his face, Shiro immediately knows Lance isn’t himself.

“Listen, about the whole sneaking out thing,” Lance says. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone out alone.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Shiro agrees. “What happened to me today could’ve happened to you.”

Lance writhes his hands. “Yeah. It was pretty dumb of me.” He looks at the floor for a second before looking up at Shiro’s legs. “Do they still hurt?”

Shiro shakes his head. “Thank god for healing pods.”

Lance nods quickly. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt.”

Shiro frowns, his stomach twisting. “You couldn’t have known what would happen.”

Lance sighs, his shoulders slumping. He looks like he’s about to say something, before he shakes his head. “I couldn’t. Alright. I’ll let you sleep. I’m sorry, okay?”

Shiro nods in worry, but Lance quickly turns and leaves.

\-----

The day after they receive a distress call, and they take a wormhole to the planet to liberate them from the Galra colonies having taken over. Like the flip of a switch, Lance is acting like his old self, and is fully focused on the mission. Voltron isn’t really needed since the colonies are small. In a week they’ve got it wrapped up, and the planet gifts them with lots of food and seeds, the only payment the Paladins can receive with a clean conscience.

After that, however, Lance starts locking himself into his own room. Keith is for some reason determined to return things as the way they were (to Shiro’s surprise, Keith was a terrible slave of habits and routines). Keith lurks around Lance’s room for a couple of days, but doesn’t actually talk to the guy.

After a few days, Shiro convinces Allura to talk to Lance, and for some reason it works (Shiro tries not to feel insecure about that). The only change she actually does end up making is that Lance practices his sharpshooting with a dead look on his face for hours and then goes to swim in the pool for most of the day. Keith picks a fight with him in sheer boredom, and Lance is quick to banter but also quick to become silent again.

Lance being weird is soon forgotten though, when bigger problems arrive.

\-----

The planet they’re heading for is named Birkne, and has a healthy ecology with oceans covering almost 67% of the planet.  The Birkneans specialize in force fields, that have kept them protected from the Galra for thousands of years, something the Galra decided not to spend too much energy on beating, considering that Birkne is mainly a water planet. However, Allura wants to have measures that make sure that the Galra won’t try to take over again, especially planets that are vulnerable or planets that have resources, like a Balmera, and the Birkneans force fields are the closest they have come to sustainable protection. Thankfully, the head chief of the Mars-sized planet was open to their request, and let them land.

Lance whines and begs for Allura to pick the water tribe to do business with, as they travel through the planet’s atmosphere. After weeks of Lance’s weird mood, this was a return of the Lance they knew. Since it didn’t really seem to matter which tribe they picked to approach first, Allura hesitantly agrees. The head chief lived in the center of Birkne’s biggest continent, Maha, and didn’t want to meet before his people had gotten a good look at them.

When Allura announces they would approach the water tribe, Lance whoops and is thoroughly excited for days. Allura puts up with it, but in the end she sternly has to remind him that they’re not at the planet to go swim at the beach. Lance looks disproportionately hurt by her lecture, and empties the picnic basket full of towels, sun protection and bottles of water he had prepared for the team. He looks like a puppy that has been kicked, and Allura looks at Shiro in confusion when he leaves the Castle Bridge immediately after the briefing.

“Was I too harsh with him?” she asks.

Keith shrugs a shoulder, his hands clenched on the table. “He’s been really touchy about the whole water thing,” he huskily says and clears his throat. “It probably reminds him of home.”

“Maybe he’s a nudist,” Pidge suggests. “And that’s why he swims alone.”

“He really does love swimming,” Hunk says, then sighs. “He’s always been that way.”

Keith looks at him sharply. “What do you mean by that?”

And Shiro realizes something he probably should’ve seen a long time ago. Keith being all upset by Lance’s mood, despite being the person the most irked by Lance. He wasn’t only worried about Lance’s homesickness, he was also irritated because Lance wasn’t showering him in attention anymore. He _liked_ Lance. Shiro puts a hand on his mouth, his eyes widening slightly in delight. And he who thought the day would never come. How could he have not seen this?

Keith shoots him a sharp look in return, and Shiro smirks. Keith’s cheeks flush and he looks away. Ah. Was there more to it than that?

“What do you mean ‘always been this way’?” Keith asks. “Moody after having gone for a swim?”

“I don’t know about that. But one spring break his flight to Cuba was cancelled because of a storm that hit the coast, and it was a break where the school completely closed, including the dorms and cafeteria,” Hunk says, but still slowly, like he’s not comfortable volunteering this information. “I invited him home with me to Apia, and while he lived with me, he’d often sneak out at night and go to swim by himself.”

Thoughtfully Shiro taps his metal fingers against the table. So far he had just thought that the solo swimming was a weird quirk of Lance’s, assuming it had something to do with his homesickness. But after having spent a year with the guy in close quarters, Shiro could say with an almost 100% certainty that Lance was no good at being sneaky about stuff in the long run. He could be sneaky about it in the beginning if he was still embarrassed about it, but Lance wasn’t one to feel embarrassed for too long. Hell, Keith had at their first encounter (apparently) indirectly said that Lance was too irrelevant to be Keith’s rival, and still he had persisted in using the title. Sooner or later Lance would always tell people what he was doing it and why he was doing it. But if this was something he had been doing for years, it’s weird for Lance to not having opened up about it to at least Hunk. It could be a quirk, but Shiro is having the growing feeling that there’s something deeper to it. So could it be that Lance was actually… _hiding something?_

\----

There’s one little problem with the water tribe: Their language is incomprehensible to humans, using squeaks and whistles too high for humans to hear. In that context, the team learns that Alteans had been diplomats for centuries because they are, conveniently, weakly telepathic. They do communicate through speech, but any Altean, together with their ability to shapeshift, had the ability to telepathically transmit symbols, feelings and meanings onto other people. The diplomats were trained from an early age to hone this ability, so the primitive information they could transmit could be articulated into a more complex systems of communication. That’s why Coran and Allura could understand the Paladins the first time they met them, despite having never gone to Earth or having spoken with humans before.

So exchanging information with people who didn’t produce sound they could hear was not impossible per se, but still a lot more difficult than anticipated.

Long story short, they are gonna wind up staying here for a while, but despite everything the water tribe was a good choice. All the different tribes have something in common, and that is how they are all in touch with the water tribe, the sea being what glued the forest, mountain and swamp tribe together. Thankfully Birkne is one of the few planets where information is exchanged quickly and efficiently.

The water Birkneans are somewhat humanoid, but they resemble jellyfish more than anything. They have two arms, a torso and a head, which is a good start for not staring too much. They have flat chests and narrow waists, no belly button and are bald. Where a human would’ve had legs, they have the bells of a jellyfish. Though the Birkneans skin are either grey, black or blue, their bells varied in colors. Some had oral arms, some oral arms had stinging cells. Some bells are completely translucent, some are opaque with color, some had matte skin like dolphins and others sparkled. Birkneans are a truly ethereal and yet ghostly sight, who avoided all forms of skin contact. The Birkneans bells would float once it touched land.

To avoid nocturnal predators, the water Birkneans slept in drifting cottages on top of the water. Mostly the Paladins slept at the Castle, but because of the complicated tribe system, they spent the days swimming from cottage to cottage. Shiro closely kept an eye on Lance’s reaction to being in the water, but at most he was anxiously twitching.

He never took the armor off, even when it was warm enough for him take it off and still enjoy his stay. Mostly he remained his goofy, happy self but at the end of the day the stay in the water obviously wore him down and he locked himself into his room as soon as he got home.

Even Coran notices.“This is just becoming rather peculiar,” he says. In the evenings Hunk tinkered in his greenhouse, adjusting the artificial sun and adjusting his plants’ soil. With the Birkneans permission they fish, and so something that might be the Birknean equivalent of catfish but tastes like avocado bakes in the oven. They eat fish a lot. Pidge hates it. Lance who normally eats Hunk’s cuisine with satisfaction, picks at his food. He helps Pidge with the dishes and immediately goes to lock himself in his room.

“Someone should talk to him,” Allura suggests. “This might interfere with Voltron.”

“Not it,” Pidge says.

Shiro looks expectedly at Hunk. Shiro can do it if needed, but he doesn’t think Lance needs the guidance of a leader right now, but rather the concern of a friend.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Hunk mutters. “He won’t like it.”

“Why?” Keith asks, his arms crossed. “He’s always all up in everybody’s business. Why can’t we be?”

Hunk just shrugs and looks tense. “The more you ask about it, the more closed-up he will get. You should let him tell us on his own time.”

“What do you know about it?”

Hunk purses his lips.

“It’s for the sake of Voltron,” Allura pressures.

Hunk shrugs. “Swimming together was a family thing. They always went to a very secluded area, because it was a very private time for them. I don’t know why though.”

“So they were all nudists,” Pidge comments.

“Let’s give it time,” Shiro sighs.

Shiro can tell that Keith disagrees, but Keith doesn’t say anything.

\-----

Keith can be, despite accusations to the contrary, patient. It’s only a matter of time before Lance will slip, and he is right. On the 19th night on Birkne, Lance sneaks out. He only brings a towel and Keith lets him get a head start, before following. By the time Keith has exited the Castle without making too much noise, Lance is already at the ocean and Keith tries to catch up, while still remaining hidden. In the end, all he sees is Lance shedding his armor and undersuit and hiding them in a bush. Lance proceeds to run buck-naked into the ocean, and disappear into the water.

Keith groans into his hands. Was Pidge right? Lance _is_ a nudist? Is that why his family were so private about it? Keith groans and bangs his head against the tree he’s hiding behind. Lance could’ve just said, though knowing him, he would’ve turned embarrassed.

Keith sighs and is about to leave, when he realizes that Lance has been underneath the water a little too long. Like on TR33, the waves on Birkne are small and mild, and the strong currents only occurred in the greater depths. When it has been fives minutes and Lance still hasn’t surfaced, Keith gets worried and runs towards the coast.

“Lance?” he yells. “Lance?” he shouts louder. “If this is a joke, it’s not funny!”

The water doesn’t move.

“Lance!” Keith yells. He hears a tiny movement, and his eyes flash over the water.

And there in the water, he sees the top of head. Nothing like the Birkneans, with their reflective skin. Birknes’ three moons are shining down, and casting a shadow over the creature’s face, but it’s there and before it _wasn’t_. But two inhumanly big eyes are staring back at him, and they glow an eerie azure color. Keith holds his breath and grabs for his bayard. When the thing realizes it’s sighted, it dives into the water. The water ripples, and Keith turns on his comm.

“Allura, wake the team,” he says. “Lance has gone missing again.”

\-----

It’d be perfect, ideally, for the Blue Lion to wake up and go find Lance like the last time. Of course, no such thing happens, which should be a good thing, because that means he’s alive. It gets to the point where some of the water tribe overhears them calling for Lance, and immediately offer to aid them when they tell them that the blue Paladin is missing. Keith describes what he saw happen over and over again. The Birkneans look weird for a moment, and ask if Lance can use sonar. When they reply that he doesn’t, the Birkneans visibly relax and says that Lance probably got lost or something. Apparently they have had problems with a foreign voice in the depths of their sea; one who lures in people with hunger in their hearts. Many Birkneans have subsumed to this voice, and have never been seen again.

That sounds pretty worrying, but Shiro assures himself that if Lance had heard anything, in case you didn’t need the ability to use sonar to hear this siren of sorts, he would’ve said something. He wouldn’t just disappear like that. Besides, Lance has been acting weird before Birkne. They search for him all night and all morning. At some point Blue abruptly wakes up, and flies to the coast. Her tail is swishing as she dives into the water.

“So what’s most likely to have happened, according to Slav and my own theories…” Pidge starts to explain. A fine mist is descending from the sky, but it’s still hot enough for Pidge to have rolled up the seams of their pants. They’re controlling a new robot which is scouting the waters with a remote .“...Is that the Birkneans’ suspicions are true, and something has eaten Lance.”

\----

At noon they find him. They know because Blue is back on the beach, and they checked the spot he hid his clothes and notice that they’re gone. Allura and Pidge go to call off the search, Hunk and Coran goes to make a healing pod and a hot meal ready and Shiro and Keith stay on the look-out.

They find him near a small gathering of trees. His pants legs are rolled up, and his shirt is soaked. He looks pale and shaking, and he’s standing eerily still. Lance’s face is turned towards the heavens, and his eyes are empty, his face is blank of expression or emotion. And Shiro curses that they ever came to this godforsaken planet. Shiro and Keith start running.

“Lance!” Shiro shouts, for some reason choosing to stop just beyond being able to reach Lance.  “Lance, we need to go back to the Castle. Okay?”

Lance doesn’t answer, looking like he didn’t hear Shiro at all.

“Lance,” Keith yells.

Lance mutters something, a whisper.

“Lance,” Shiro says. “Speak louder.”

“She’s in the water,” Lance repeats, a little louder. His eyes are wide and dark and desperate and none-seeing. “I can feel her. She’s here. I swear, I’m not making it up, I’m...“

Keith and Shiro throw each other a worried glance.

“I can’t leave her,” Lance continues. “I don’t know when I will get to see her again.”

“Who is she?” Shiro slowly asks.

“My sister,” Lance answers. “She’s in the water.”

Shiro’s face drops. Hallucinations? Maybe the creature in the water is cloaking itself as his sister?

“Lance, let’s go inside,” Keith decides.

“No!” Lance exclaims. “I need to stay here. With my sister.”

Shiro takes a deep breath. “Lance. Your sister is on Earth. We’re on Birkne. We’re galaxies away.”

Lance sniffs and shakes his head slowly. “I know I sound crazy.”

“You think?” Keith asks.

Shiro elbows him. “Come on, Lance. I think it’s best that we go back.”

Lance shakes his head.

“Lance,” Shiro says, harsher now. “We need to do our job. Remember Voltron.”

“I try to, alright?” he snaps. “It’s the only thing that pulls me through most days – “ He interrupts himself. He sighs. “It’s not that easy.”

Keith decides to change strategy. “What makes you believe she’s in the water, Lance?”

Lance purses his lips, and inhales to say something, opens his mouth even, but no words come out. “Every time a raindrop falls onto my skin, I can hear the echo of her laugh. I can see the shape of her smile. I can.”

After that he looks weirdly empty, and his shoulder slump.

“Let’s go back, alright?” Shiro says and nears Lance. He puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder, and draws him in, in a side-hug. “You’re freezing.”


	3. Song of a Mother

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are amazing. Thank you for all the sweet comments, they really motivate me through the writing process :D Constructive criticism or questions are always welcome as well ^^   
> Also remember to throw a metaphorical flower at Ashacrone, who betaed this within a day! She got me into Voltron. Go check her fics out!

Shiro doesn’t know if it’s because Lance doesn’t want to cooperate or is just too tired, but it takes both Shiro and Keith’s support to get Lance back to the Castle. By the time they reach the Castle, he has become completely unconscious and his skin is cold to the touch. Hunk is in the kitchen, stirring a steaming pot of vegetable soup with distant eyes, and Coran is waiting for them in the medical bay.

“Get his clothes off,” Coran says. “We’re wiping him down, before placing him in the pod.”

Keith pulls off Lance’s pants a little awkwardly, and Shiro goes to work on Lance’s shirt. He expects to see the smooth surface of Lance’s untainted skin, and is surprised when he finds that canvas tainted.

He slowly rolls up Lance’s shirt and for a moment he doesn’t understand what he’s looking at. 

“That looks like the wound you got when that thing on TR33 bit you,” Keith notices.

Shiro steps back, and yes. Over the side of Lance’s torso is a round scar. The circle is smooth and shiny like a burn, but the teeth have left knots of scar tissue.

“What the Hell is going on,” Keith exclaims.

Lance’s still face doesn’t answer.

“What are you doing?” Hunk’s voice is heard from the door.

Shiro, Coran and Keith look up, and oddly enough, none of them know what to say.

Hunk looks at Lance’s chest, and his expression hardens. “Step away from him. I’m gonna clean him.”

Hunk steps into the room. The quick steps he takes to go into the room function like a wave: Shiro and Keith can’t help moving to the side. 

Shiro looks at Coran, who nods, and before Keith can open his mouth, Shiro takes his arm and leads him away. 

\----

Outside the Blue Lion stands up and roars angrily at the water.

\-----

Shiro goes to check on Lance in the evening. Surely, he’d be done in the healing chamber by now, and should’ve joined them for dinner, where Hunk had eaten his plate of eel-like grilled fish and drunk his bowl of vegetable soup with a pale face and conflicted eyes. 

“I’m gonna go check on Lance,” he says, rising up and washing his plate, before quickly leaving the room.

When Shiro goes to the medical chamber, he can’t help but stop outside the closed door. He can hear Lance and Hunk’s voice clearly through the metal. 

“I’m sorry, Hunk,” Lance exclaims. “I was gonna tell you, but after the whole thing with your grandma….!”

“I’m not my grandma, Lance!” Hunk snaps and that seems to shut Lance up for a few minutes, before Hunk asks so quietly it’s difficult to make out: “What will you do about the team?”

“What about them?” Lance asks.

“I can’t believe you. You know Keith – “

“It’s different, Hunk, and you know it,” Lance says. “Please. Please, Hunk, just give me time. I will tell them when the time is right.”

Shiro leans his forehead against the wall, and forces himself to walk away.

\-----

The next day the Paladins agree to leave Lance behind, and Coran stays to watch out for him. The water tribe asks where the blue Paladin is, and they have to vaguely inform them that something about the water made the Paladin ill. The children whom Lance has been playing with while the rest of them dealt with technicalities of the meetings, swim away disappointed. 

When they come back, Hunk is sitting with Lance, but he seems awkward, almost cold, and Lance has clearly picked up on it and fallen into silence.

That evening, Keith is prepared. He’s cleaning his bayard outside his room, when he hears the pat-pat-pat of Lance’s bare feet through the halls, coming towards him. Keith gets up and hides behind a corner, and quickly catches Lance as he rounds it, and drags him back to his room. Over the next two days, Lance tries to sneak out of the Castle five times. Shiro can barely focus on the diplomatic meetings anymore, as he leaves more and more of the Paladins behind in the Castle to watch over Lance. He’s indecisive on what to do about the whole situation; he wants to ask the Birkneans, but he’s afraid he’ll come off as accusatory. Then, when Lance stops eating, and takes to staring into the wall in silence for what feels like hours, he knows something has to change. 

On the third night, the familiar ring of the alarm wakes Shiro up, which means that Lance has tried to run away _again_. When he gets out there, Allura and Hunk are already wrestling him to the floor, Lance shouting bloody murder. After they have had to sedate him for the second time in a day, Hunk looks up and says: “Maybe we should let him do it. He was always normal in-between the swims, right? I can go with him.”

Shiro rubs his face. His ears are ringing from Lance begging and screaming for Shiro to let him go. “Alright, I didn’t want to do this.” He puts his hand on the table. “Hunk. What is going on?”

Hunk doesn’t as much as twitch. His face is dead serious and conflicted as he stares at the table. “I can’t…” He clears his throat and stops talking. He frowns and looks up at them. “He can hear it. Whatever the Birkneans say lives in the water? I’m positive he can hear it.”

“How?” Pidge asks. “That should be impossible.”

Hunk shrugs. “I mean, we are understanding the Birkneans better the longer we stay here. On other planets, we understand the language right away. Why shouldn’t Lance be able to hear it?”

Allura inhales deeply. “You can understand the Birkneans and other aliens, because your quintessence is synchronized with the Lions and the Lions, like Altean diplomats, understand all languages through telepathy.”

Hunk scratch his head. “I mean, none of us can hear the water calling, but if he’s the water Paladin, I can imagine he probably hears it clearer in the water than we do? It’s just a guess though. I mean, he wasn’t like this before, right? Yeah he liked to take solo swims at night, but he was always himself when he came back. I don’t know, maybe he was on a swim and its call suddenly reached to him and hasn’t lost it’s hold on him since?”

Shiro frowns at Hunk. What Hunk says makes sense. But why does it feel like Hunk is still omitting something?

“We could put him in some sort of isolation tank?” Pidge suggests. “Something that cancels auditory input?”

Coran looks up. “Or easier, we could put him in a cryopod. It induces an artificial coma, and he shouldn’t be able to hear anything. In the meanwhile, we get to take care of this issue.”

Shiro squirms. “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” he says. “Humans have been known to be able to hear their surroundings in coma. What if he’s stuck listening to the call all day? It might drive him insane. And we don’t know how the cryopod will affect a human. On Earth we’ve done several experiments to freeze people down, but they’ve never been quite successful; our flesh normally can’t overcome the ice damage.”

“Perhaps it’s too risky then,” Allura agrees.

“We’ll need to personally watch him all the time instead, especially at night where it seems to be worse. Hunk, you slept with him yesterday?”

Hunk nods. “I put my arm around him, so I would wake up when he tried to wriggle away. But I can’t do that every night.” He sighs. “Honestly, I’m beat after the past couple of days. The moment your eyelids come together, he’s up and gone.”

“It’s fine, he’ll sleep in my room tonight,” Shiro decides and sees Keith shoot him a quick look. “Or Keith…?”

“No,” Keith quickly responds. “Why would I care?”

Boys.

\----

Despite Lance’s obsessed behaviour, he isn’t possessed by some sort of demon. Besides the fact that he is obviously stressed, he is still as snarky and annoying as ever, and the Paladins treatment of him only makes it worse.

“Oh yes, my escort is here,” he drawls as he is picked up by Shiro at the infirmary after having woken up from his sedation. “How is my dear sleeping buddy? Deciding to talk with me today?”

Shiro sighs. “Hunk is trying his best, you know. And no, you’re sleeping with me tonight.”

That makes Lance shut up, and he stares at Shiro with a weird expression. “It’s gone that far huh,” Lance mutters. “You could just let me go.”

“It’s not that simple,” Shiro answers with a sigh, and when they reach Shiro’s quarters, Keith is standing there, his arms crossed and leaning up against the wall.

“Will you be alright?” he asks Shiro.

Shiro nods.

“Sure you don’t want to join?” Lance drawls.

Keith’s face whips towards Lance, his face flushing. Interesting. “I don’t want to watch  _ The Exorcist  _ twice,” Keith snaps.

Lance flinches and sneers. “First of all,  _ that _ was about a girl,” Lance shoots back. “Second of all…” Not being able to come up with something, his shoulders slump. His eyes get frighteningly red and wet, and he exclaims: “I know what I think is true, isn’t, alright? Even Blue says that what I’m hearing isn’t…”

Keith’s face turns regretful. “Look, Lance, I’m…” He takes a deep breath and looks at Shiro in nervousness and Shiro nods in what he hopes is an encouraging way.  

Keith reaches out, and puts his hand on Lance’s shoulder. Lance doesn’t look up but he quivers, and starts to lean into Keith. When Keith has Lance leaning his full body into him, he looks surprised and clueless, and Shiro widens his eyes and mimics closing his arms. Keith blinks at him and then closes his arms, looking thoroughly awkward.

They stay there for a long moment, before Lance exhales deeply and presses his face into Keith’s neck. Keith looks at Shiro in desperation, like he’s asking, ‘What now?’

Shiro sends him a reassuring smile, when Keith’s body is suddenly thrown into Shiro’s. Before Shiro can realize what’s happening, he can hear Lance running away, but cackling this time. Keith and Shiro immediately take chase, and catch him at the Castle’s exit.

He’s laughing at them, as they harshly grab his arms.

“Worth a try, right?” he asks, but his face sobers and he looks at Keith. “Thank you, mullet. Didn’t know you could do that without combusting.”

Shiro frowns in worry. Keith was not a physically affectionate person, and besides the occasional pat on the back, neither was Shiro. He had always thought that Hunk was cuddly enough for all of them. He can’t count the number of times Hunk took a nap in the living room and Pidge sneaked in with their computer, and planted themselves in the curl of his sleeping body. While Pidge and Keith generally liked being hugged, they never initiated. But Lance and Hunk were always touching in the smallest ways. Lance hopping onto Hunk’s back and whooping when Allura praised their teamwork, Hunk hugging Lance when he was worried, Lance leaning into Hunk’s side on the couch, Hunk with his legs on Lance’s lap as he tinkered.

Maybe Hunk hadn’t been hugging Lance as much after their fight?

Keith’s face reddens, and Shiro pushes Lance into Shiro’s bedroom and closes the door. He can hear Lance shout: “Are we locking me in now? Have we gotten to that point?”

“Listen,” Shiro whispers, low enough so Lance won’t hear. “This might not be the best time, but you should totally go for it when this is over with. I’m pretty sure you can ask Hunk if Lance is, you know…” His whispers becomes even lower. “Straight.”

Keith’s face turns the same color as his trademark jacket. He bites his lip.

Shiro wiggles his brows encouragingly.

Keith slams a fist into Shiro’s human arm (ow), and walks away quickly.

\----

Lance for the most part, doesn’t seem to mind sharing the tiny bed. They were both too broad-shouldered to lay on their backs, so they curled together on their sides in what in other circumstances would’ve been spooning. Shiro is awkward at first. Like Pidge and Keith, he’s never really been the physically affectionate type. While his mother always hugged, kissed and held his hand as a child, as he grew older, it started to taper off without him noticing. Even with partners he has difficulties settling into the routine of physical affection, unless it was sex or the afterglow of sex. Of course, he loved cuddling, loved snuggling on the couch while watching TV, or in the case of his last girlfriend doing homework. It’s just that he has difficulties initiating it, hence one of the reasons why his previous girlfriend broke up with him, besides his choice of career.

Thing is, if Shiro has to admit it, it wouldn’t be wrong to label him as ace. Demisexual, if he had to pick a more specific term. It’s not that he doesn’t appreciate connection or relationships – he’s a leader, and he thrives in groups of people. It’s just hard for him to feel a connection intense enough for him to seek out something beyond platonic. And well, as his ex put it “You’re approachable and really charismatic, so that saves you from doing the hard work yourself”. It had felt like a blow at the time, but when he really thinks about it, it’s true. He doesn’t want to flatter himself, but people often came to him for company or help, and he has always been amiable. He rarely approached people himself – Heck, he and Keith had met through a mentor-program – and he had never himself approached his past girlfriends. He knows sharing a bed with one of his teammates and friends shouldn’t be weird - but it is.

But Lance, whose chest is pressed against Shiro’s back, immediately nudges closer. He sighs deeply and tries to relax, and Shiro remembers Hunk’s words and hesitantly arranges Lance’s arm over Shiro’s side.

“Is this okay?” he asks lowly.

Lance grunts. “What is?”

“Your arm.” Shiro swallows.

Lance hums. “Yeah?”

“Okay.” Shiro clears his throat, and tries to relax. He sighs, and tries not to notice the smell of Lance’s hair, staring into the darkness of the room. He doesn’t try to fall asleep, and tells himself that it’s because he’s watching out for Lance. 

“You’re so tense right now,” Lance mutters. “Is there something wrong?”

“No.”

But something in Shiro’s tone makes Lance sit up on an elbow. “Are you uncomfortable?” he asks, weirdly serious.

Shiro turns his body to face him, but it also makes his face unnervingly close to Lance’s. He can smell Lance’s breath; the liquorice-minty toothpaste they use in space. “I guess I forgot how it felt.”

Lance stares Shiro down. After a minute he lies down again. “I guess it makes sense,” he says, staring at Shiro’s collarbone. “Do you miss it?”

Shiro looks into Lance’s eyes. He kinda doesn’t want to talk about it, but this is the first time in days Lance seems to be fully focused on something else but the water. 

“I do,” Shiro admits, somehow feeling like his words are signs of weakness.

Lance doesn’t answer, just looks at him expectedly.

Shiro rustles a little uneasily. “I had a very formal upbringing. It’s weird to reach out for it.”

Lance smiles crookedly at him. “Just do it, man.”

Shiro smiles back. Of course it was that easy to loud outspoken Lance.

“See, I will help,” Lance announces, and nudges his knee in-between Shiro’s. He sticks an arm in-between Shiro’s side and metal arm, somehow manages to squirm closer, and presses his face against Shiro’s chest.

“Woah, your heart is beating so fast.” He looks up at Shiro with a leer and wiggles his brows. “What, you like me?”

Shiro rolls his eyes.

“No, you like Keith right?” Lance asks.

Shiro stares. “What?”

Lance stares back. “What.”

Shiro blinks quickly.  “I don’t like Keith in that way.”

Lance doesn’t answer, just starts to grin. “He’s gay you know,” he finally says. “Clearly attracted to you.”

Shiro groans. “You’ve gotten it all wrong.”

“I don’t think I have.”

Shiro sighs and after a moment of silence he thinks they’re gonna settle down, when Lance continues: “You know, Allura is not attracted to you.”

Shiro groans. “Why are you saying that?” he asks. “Does she have to be attracted to me?”

“Well, just in case you were holding out for her,” Lance says, smiling. “I’m honestly pretty sure she’s a lesbian.”

“Lance,” Shiro says in a warning tone.

“What? Keith is gay, you’re ace, Hunk is  _ sadly _ straight, Pidge I’m not so sure, they’re so young  – “

“Wait.” Shiro shrugs himself loose.

“Oh Shiro, nothing wrong with being ace –“

“No, how do you know?”

“Well, I don’t know  _ know _ ,” Lance says, starting to sound defensive. “It’s just a guess.”

Shiro glares at him.

“What are you so upset about?” Lance asks, somehow making it sound like a complaint. “No one told me Keith was gay either, yet - “

“How did you ‘guess’ that?” Shiro asks, honestly disturbed. Most people who dared to take a guess at him, usually thought he had the whole “good boy on the streets, bad boy in the sheets” going for him.

Lance shrugs. “Hey, I’m told to have an  _ excellent _ gaydar.” 

“You didn’t even know Pidge wasn’t a boy.”

“Uh,  _ hello _ , I’m pan, you think I notice stuff like that?” 

Shiro sighs and wants to turn his back on Lance, but finds himself stuck. He closes his eyes to signal that this conversation is over, but as should have been expected Lance continues: “So, are you like, heteroromantic?”

Shiro moans. “ _ Lance _ .”

“Just a question, dude.” Lance tries to sound apologetic, but he sounds like he’s having fun. “’Cause you know, Keith seems like a great dude, and he’s totally into you.”

Yep, Lance definitely couldn’t read people if that’s what he thought.

“Believe me, Keith isn’t interested,” Shiro says. “Besides I’m his mentor.”

“Not anymore,” Lance protests. “And just because you lead Voltron, doesn’t mean you lead us anywhere else. We’re hardly your subordinates.”

“I’m older than you.”

Lance scoffs. “You’re 24, and Keith is pretty mature for his age.”

“Right.”

“Are you uncomfortable having this conversation?”

“Yes, Lance, I am, thank you for catching up.”

Lance pouts. “You could’ve just said that, man.”

Lance lets go of his octopus hold on Shiro and starts to wiggle around, sleeping with his back against Shiro’s chest and face towards the wall. Shiro knows Lance is letting go for Shiro’s sake, but somehow he still feels like he has been shunned.

\----

Shiro wakes up because he can feel Lance sliding out at the foot of the bed. Immediately he shoots out a hand and pulls Lance back in. Lance whines obnoxiously.

\----

Lance tries to sneak out eight times during the night, and Shiro’s starting to understand why Hunk was so beat after bed duty. Lance looks like he hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep, and twitches restlessly as they eat breakfast. When Keith tells Lance to eat, Lance throws a spork at him.

There’s a whole new level of Lance’s desperation, and Shiro just knows that they can’t deal with this any longer. He angrily reprimands Lance for throwing hard and sharp objects at Keith, and Lance smiles coyly and apologizes. Shiro knows what’s going to happen the second Lance dips into his hand into his bowl of goo and has time to shield himself with his arm. Hunk rips away Lance’s bowl, and Lance crosses his arm and leans back in his chair, visibly angry. 

“Lance,” Shiro says as he lowers his arm. “We’ll have to put you in the cryopod if you continue like that.”

Lance suddenly looks scared. “No.”

“Then you will not be using physical force against us again. We’re your team. We’re your  _ friends _ ,” Shiro says. “Is that understood?”

Lance nods, his whole body starting to shake. “I’m sorry,” he whines.

Thirty minutes later, has Lance crashed on the couch in the living room. The team is standing in a circle outside the door, semi-guarding the exit as they talk. 

“The Birkneans don’t have any solution for this,” Hunk notifies Shiro. “They acclimated their whole cycle to avoid going out at night.”

“So we go and take care of that sea witch or whatever ourselves,” Pidge suggests.

“So what do we do?” Keith asks. “Kill it?”

They all throw him a withering look.

“We’re not going to kill anything,” Shiro says. “It seems like the rest of us are immune to whatever is calling out for Lance, so we’re the best people to go catch it and make it stop. We will bring whatever is down there to the Birknean authorities, and they can decide what to do with it.”

“What if the Birkneans don’t agree with that plan?” Allura asks.

“Why wouldn’t they be? It’s killing their population,” Keith says.

“They might see it as a breach of trust if we choose to meddle with their own affairs, or as a lack of trust towards their ability to protect us,” Allura explains. “They might even see it as an insult to their capabilities.”

Now they’re all looking at her.

“So what do you suggest?” Keith asks. “Lock Lance up until the headchief lets us visit him on land? Who knows how far that thing’s call can reach.”

“That might be a valid possibility,” Allura answers. “Rather, I’d think it’s better for us to just ask them, if we’re allowed to catch this underwater beast. We will go first thing today, and hopefully the over chief has a reply ready in the evening.”

Pidge groans. “And of course, Blue would’ve been the best lion for this job.”

“We’ll have to do without,” Shiro says.

“You look beat,” Keith notices.

Shiro lets his crossed arms fall down. “The moment I fell asleep he crawled out of bed.”

Coran nods. “It would make sense for him to be most aware of it, when everything around him is silence, hence, when he’s resting.” He throws Lance’s curled figure a sympathetic glance. “Perhaps that’s why he fell so quickly asleep here.”

It’s silent for a moment, and then Hunk goes: “You know what this means?”

“Don’t say it,” Pidge mutters.

“Slumber party!” Hunk exclaims.


	4. Hunger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hands grab at his face now, and hold it still. Something soft and slick presses against his face, against his lips, and he tries to push it away, but his mouth opens for some reason, and suddenly he feels something colder than anything he has ever felt, even ice – something that feels like space, no oxygen, no light, no moisture - push into his mouth.
> 
> The squeezing of his lungs, the pressure on his head, ceases at once, so quickly that Shiro is almost dizzy with it, and the body holding his eases off. For a second he thinks he’s already dead. But then his vision sharpens, and through the illuminated mist of hideous green, Shiro stares into azure blue eyes.
> 
> Shiro is staring at Lance.
> 
> Like Shiro himself, Lance isn’t wearing a helmet. Is Lance dead too? His shoulders are naked, the shadows of his collarbones deep like puncture wounds on his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story would be nothing without Ashacrone. Check out her [tumblr.](Ashacrone.tumblr.com)

Lance sleeps till noon, and the Paladins put their diplomatic negotiations on hold, waiting for word from the over chief. Lance is grouchy when he wakes, and goes straight for the fridge, sending them all the stink eye. Shiro thinks that Lance is just grabbing for some cool water. Instead Keith and Shiro watch in horror as Lance takes one of the pieces of thinly sliced, marinated fish Hunk prepared for dinner. He opens his mouth and stuffs it inside.

”Lance!” Hunk exclaims. ”That’s not cooked!”

Lance blinks slowly at him, chewing the fish with a blank expression. He grabs for another fish, but this time Shiro has time to stop him. Shiro has nothing against eating raw fish (he _is_ Japanese) but they need to take precautions out in space, which means that they cooked and boiled pretty much everything.

”You could get sick,” Shiro warns. They’re standing a feet apart, Shiro holding Lance’s wrist.

Lance chews the fish slowly, and Shiro feels like Lance’s teeth look more … pointy? His breath smells like the local substitutes for cinnamon and cumin, and slightly of the liquorice-tasting roots Hunk occasionally uses.

Shiro stares at Lance in astonishment, but then Hunk says: “Let it go, Shiro, he’s sick,” and Shiro is hit by how eerie all of this, even for him.

In the evening, they receive a message from the head chief. They’ll accept the Paladin’s offer of help, and that they have permission to go first thing in the morning. That leaves them time to prepare, and they all settle in the living room, pretending that Lance hasn’t worn his robe for two days, his skin dry and eyes hollow. He sits surrounded by them, his hands on his knees as they talk around him, trying to distract him, but he keeps staring at the wall, as if trying to glare a hole through it.

“So what’s gonna happen now?” Lance interrupts in the middle of Hunk talking about his green garden. “I’m just gonna rot here, until we’ve gotten the tech for the shields?”

Unsettled, Shiro feels weird about telling Lance the truth, but Allura reassures him: “We will take care of the matter tomorrow morning, and you shall be free from the grasp that holds you captive.”

Lance twitches. Slowly he turns to stare at her. The pupils in his sapphire blue eyes have shrunk to the size of the head of a needle.

“Are you going to kill my sister…?” he whispers.

They all uncomfortably squirm.

“Lance,” Allura says, quietly. “You know that thing is not your kin…”

Anger visibly grows in Lance as he starts to shake.

He abruptly climbs onto the couch. He scowls as he wraps himself in the comforter laying there, and turns his back to them.

They quickly settle down to sleep after that. Allura wants to join the slumber party, but Coran makes it clear that that wasn’t appropriate for a Princess.

So the two Alteans disappear down the hall, and the Paladins turn off the light. Keith insists on sleeping close to Lance, and Lance doesn’t even make any flirty remarks. Hunk sleeps near the door, Pidge in front of him. Shiro lays himself down in front of Lance, giving the boy a sharp glare as he does it.

“You’re all full of it,” Lance grumbles, but settles down quickly.

He makes a big deal out of squirming away from Shiro, which just means he backs into Keith’s chest.

“Uhm, do you mind?” Lance asks.

“What?” Keith asks, though his ears are reddening at the edges.

“Moving?”

“Yes, I do? There’s a couch behind me, fishbrain?”

“Fine.” Lance turns around, and presses his body into Keith. Shiro shouldn’t be, but he is amused. Lance clearly thinks that it makes Keith uncomfortable and that Keith will eventually move, but not only does Keith look determined to not let Lance have his way; he is also visibly flustered.

Shiro sends him a grin and a thumbs up as Lance grumbles, and Keith looks like he’s going to smother Shiro with a pillow sometime soon. Shiro settles in and Keith tries to relax, but Hunk and Pidge get caught up in a discussion about the cloaking modification of the Green Lion, and whether they could have it installed in all the lions, and so on. It’s early so Shiro can’t complain, and it honestly does the trick. Within five minutes Lance is snoring softly, and Keith makes a face and says Lance is drooling on him, but doesn’t push him away.

When Hunk and Pidge’s chatter ebbs out, and they all quiet, Lance’s breathing starts to quicken and he’s blinking his eyes open.

“Lola?” he calls out.

“Lola isn’t here,” Shiro calmly answers. “Go back to sleep.”

Lance is too tense to sleep, but Hunk and Pidge have clearly caught on to what’s happening, and they throw themselves into a long-winded, abstract ramble about quantum mechanics. It’s better than a sleeping pill; Lance immediately falls into unconsciousness.

When Shiro sends them a thumbs up, they talk slower.

“Who’s Lola?” Pidge asks.

“His twin,” Hunk answers. “That’s the voice he thinks he can hear.”

Shiro sighs and looks at Lance in worry. He can just about see the scar on his belly through the gaps of his rope, and looking harshly at Hunk, he says: “Hunk. Do you know why Lance has the scar he has on his chest?”

Hunk holds his breath.

“What scar?” Pidge asks.

“That shark thing from TR33 bit my legs, remember?” Shiro answers. “Lance has one on his stomach. I know there’s something you’re not telling us, Hunk. You know I want to respect your privacy, but if it has something to do with – “

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you,” Hunk quickly blurts out, and turns on his side, away from them.

They try to keep the talking going, but soon they tap out one by one.

\----

“Shiro!” Keith is calling.

Shiro wakes with a startle and sits up. He immediately sights Lance at the exit, and has time to call out “Paladins!” before Lance opens his mouth.

And Shiro can hear his mother.

It’s ones of the most unnerving experiences he has ever had.

One second he’s in the Castle, which is landed on the planet Birkne in a galaxy he can’t pronounce. It’s been years since he spent more than few days on Earth. He hasn’t spoken with his mother since right before the mission to Kerberos, almost two years ago. He has forgotten her voice. Started to forget her face; she’d probably aged.

The next second he’s in his old bedroom on Earth. The projector projects the Milky Way onto the ceiling, a beautiful wash of color and light. He’s 16 years old, and it’s the day before the entrance test to the Galaxy Garrison to transfer as the first Japanese student. He’s nervous and giddy and his mother has had to chase him away from his studying, and said he couldn’t possibly study more than he already had. The admission test has a practical as well as covers theory,  so he’s been training too and his muscles are shaking with exhaustion. He can’t sleep, his nerves about tomorrow are too much for him. His mother stands above his bed, and for a moment he thinks back to when he was small, and she still tucked him in.

Now she stands above him, but she doesn’t seem as tall as she used to be. Her hair is longer and her eyes older, the small beginning of laugh lines around her eyes, almost as deep as the ones on her forehead. She puts her cool palm on top of his brow, and he looks up at her with curious eyes.

“Sleep,” she tells him, and she hums a melody.

Except his mother never really sang for him.  

\----

When Shiro comes back to reality, Pidge and Hunk are standing up, but swaying, and staring blankly into the air. Shiro quickly snaps at them and they seem to wake up with a shock. He leaves the room, and heads towards the sound of Keith’s voice, calling out for Lance.

At the end of the hall, Shiro reaches Keith sooner than expected, probably because Keith is standing with both of his feet rooted on the ground. Unlike Pidge and Hunk, he seems more like a statue than a sleepwalker, and he’s wide awake, staring at the end of the hall.

“He ran that way,” he tells Shiro. “Go, I can’t move.”

Shiro is getting more and more freaked out.

Soon he hears Allura as well.

“No, Lance, don’t!” she’s shouting, and it’s coming from one of the few windows of the Castle. Mostly the Castle doesn’t have windows or balconies, but there were few portholes here and there to let in fresh air if they were on an appropriate planet. Allura had probably been too quick for Lance to have reached the exit; the porthole he is at, however, is over 15 meters from the ground. The Castle is placed on the coast, but that side of the Castle is faced towards the water.

When he gets there, Lance has already succeeded in ripping out the air filter. The sea and sky is dark behind him, and he looks back at them with those bright blue eyes. He’s standing on the sill, his hands tight on the frames, and once he sees Shiro come nearer, he throws his rope into Allura’s face, getting momentum with the distraction, and throws himself out.

“No!” Shiro says, but once he gets to the window, he sees Lance dive headfirst into the water, his body graceful and streamlined like a fish.

Shiro isn’t wearing his armor and can’t follow.

\----

“What the Hell did he _do_?” Keith yells as they all march towards the exits. The waters they think Lance is located in are tight with cliffs, so they have to go without their Lions. “You were all just standing there, like you were hypnotized!”

None of them answer right away.

“I had a flashback,” Shiro admits. “But it was … different from usual.”

“Me too,” Pidge says, quietly. “I dreamt of Matt. He told me to sleep. He was singing though, which would never have happened in real life. He sucks at singing.”

“I dreamt of my Grandma,” Hunk joins in as they walk into the water. “She was singing me a lullaby.”  

“I dreamt of my mother,” Shiro hesitantly adds. “She hummed in the dream, but she never sung in real life. What happened, Keith?”

Keith waits to answer until their heads are underneath the water, and they’re turning on their boosters to move more quickly through the water. They are heading towards the place where most of the Birkneans and Lance had disappeared, and Allura had went to the water Birkneans to tell them that the Paladins had to go diving now.

“I woke up because he was getting up. I grabbed for him, but then I suddenly became so drowsy,” Keith sullenly replies. “I called out for you, but the second you sat up and looked at Lance, you seemed to disappear in your own world. The same with Pidge and Hunk. I tried to follow him, but I was too slow. Once I caught up with him in the hall, he turned around and … and sang? And I couldn’t move, though I was wide awake.” More hesitantly he adds: “I kept thinking of that time we were stranded on that planet, and those wild reptile things surrounded you. It was like my body was telling me to freeze, so I wouldn’t be noticed.”

“So not only is Lance a nudist, he’s a possessed one too,” Pidge says. “He’s never been able to do that. I’m sure it’s something that sea witch made him do.”

Hunk is curiously quiet.

The waters get colder the deeper they dive. They pass what could supposedly be the twilight zone and swim in total darkness for a while, before the water starts to become brighter, murkier and greener. Shiro is starting to doubt if this was the right decision to make because where Lance is, Shiro has no idea. He knows that, if Lance’s life were in danger, Blue would be there and that was reassuring. But Lance didn’t escape in his armor and realistically he should’ve drowned, before ever getting this deep. Something isn’t making sense.

“It’s some sort of bioluminescent algae,” Pidge reports as they reach the pipes the Birkneans planted a thousand years ago to make the shields that protects the planet today. “Unlike our algae, it’s not photosynthetic. The water is thick with it, and that’s why it’s becoming brighter and brighter.”

The bioluminescent algae does make it easier to navigate, and eventually they turn off their headlights. Their radar is telling them that they’re nearing the bottom, when Hunk suddenly goes: “Did you guys see that?”

Looking up, Shiro sees nothing but the algae floating like dancing snowflakes.

“What are you talking about?” Shiro asks.

Keith draws out his bayard.

“There was a shadow,” Hunk says, swimming closer to Pidge.

Shiro and Pidge turn their headlights back on, but it hardly makes a difference.

And then Shiro sees it: Thin shadows.

There are a dozen of them surrounding them, and they start to swim closer.  “Draw your bayards,” Shiro commands, his Galra arm lightening up.

The closest Shiro can describe the creatures as, are rays as big as giant manta rays. Their figures are flickering in the unclear water. Because of how incredibly thin they are, they’re hard to make out in the water once they’re swimming horizontally with the Paladins. But as Shiro senses something above him, he sees that a circle of rays are coming down from overhead. And the whole underside of the rays are spotted with small lamprey mouths.

Shiro feels cold sweat make way down his spine.

“We’re gonna die,” Hunk whines and Keith and Shiro near the green and yellow Paladin to create a cluster. They move back to back with each other. “Lance! Lance, get your ass here and help us!”

“What are you doing?” Pidge hisses.

One of the rays shot forward with a startling speed, and Shiro burns it right away. Despite its leathery skin, it’s too thin to have any real durability, so it dies immediately and sinks to the bottom. Behind Shiro, the three other Paladins are shouting out as they defend themselves. The rays are easy to take down, but they are many and they are fast.

One gets close enough to bite down on Pidge’s wrist, and they shout as they stab the ray with their bayard. But soon a ray manages to lower itself down onto them, the mouths frightfully close, and one of the mouths latch onto Keith’s helmet. Hunk is making sure that no more rays get close enough, and Pidge is defending Shiro and Hunk, so Shiro thrusts his fingers upwards and stabs the ray in what must be its belly. It loosens its grip on Keith’s helmet, but then it jabs and Shiro finds himself lifted up as it has grabbed onto his helmet with yet another mouth. Shiro can feel its persistent yanks as he and Keith work on getting it off.

Through the noise of the shouting Paladins, he can hear a soft clicking noise. Small and softer than dolphins; like pebbles gently tapping together.

Rays start to drop like lost laundry around them and Shiro sights a large tail with a horizontal tail fin. It’s larger than a dolphin’s though, but is slimmer and longer, and swims through the murky water and the flickering shadows of the rays, leaving a trail of fleeing or dying rays. As Shiro continues to struggle with the mouth that is trying to eat him, he thinks he can even see arms and the shape of something like a knife?

“What is that?” Keith asks, but Shiro doesn’t get to see more.

His helmet is pulled off with a _plop_ , and the immense pressure immediately presses down on his head. His vision turns into a green soup, and he flails for his helmet. He distantly feels the Paladins struggle to get his helmet back, so maybe that’s why they don’t notice when hands, far too slimy to be theirs, grab his wrists and something strong and shaped like a thick tentacle wraps around his legs.

The hands grab at his face now, and hold it still. Something soft and slick presses against his face, against his lips, and he tries to push it away, but his mouth opens for some reason, and suddenly he feels something colder than anything he has ever felt, even ice – something that felt like space, no oxygen, no light, no moisture - push into his mouth.

The squeezing of his lungs, the pressure on his head, ceases at once, so quickly that Shiro is almost dizzy with it, and the body holding his eases off. For a second he thinks he’s already dead. But then his vision _sharpens_ , and through the illuminated mist of hideous green, Shiro stares into azure blue eyes.

Shiro is staring at Lance.

Like Shiro himself, Lance isn’t wearing a helmet. Is Lance dead too? His shoulders are naked, the shadows of his collarbones deep like puncture wounds on his body. His hands, which he draws away from Shiro’s cheeks, have webbed fingers. Before Shiro can even start to realize what’s going on, Lance’s figure shoots up through the water, and Shiro is no longer in doubt.

Either he’s dead, hallucinating or Lance is a merman.

No other way to say it. As Lance swims up, Shiro gets a close-up of the green tail, covered in iridescent scales and slim fins. It’s slender and long, jagged with multiple fins, yet muscular in its build.  

He swims up, and Shiro realizes that he doesn’t have any problems breathing, and as he turns around to stare at his team, they’re staring right back at him. Staring at his neck to be precise.

Shiro lifts his hand, and flinches when he feels that his skin is cut up in strips, water breezing through them. Gills.

 _Gills_. Shiro has _gills_.

And then Lance is swimming back, Shiro’s helmet in his hands. He offers it to Shiro, who takes it.

Then Lance starts gesturing something.

He points to Shiro’s neck.

_Gills._

He pulls up three fingers and does a long exhalation imitation, as his fingers counts down.

Then he imitates holding his breath, and then points to the helmet.

Shiro nods, inhales and exhales as deeply as he can. As he holds his breath, Lance quickly puts the helmet on his head, and Shiro flinches at the loud suction sound as it empties of water, and warm air comes rushing in.

“Shiro!” he hears Keith shout as the first thing. “Are you alright?”

For a moment he can’t breathe, and he tries not to panic, but then he coughs and his lungs kick in.

“Yeah,” Shiro hoarsely answers.

“Nevermind your usual near-death experiences, Lance is a merperson!” Pidge shouts in the coms.

Then there’s the rapid clicking, Lance gesturing wildly.

“He says that we need to come with him, and that he knows the truth about this planet now,” Hunk translates.

“How come you understand what he’s saying?” Keith asks. “Oh, don’t tell me that clicking noise – “

“It’s him,” Hunk says. He slowly swims forward, and Shiro notices that Lance’s tail and arms are covered with wounds, shaped like the lamprey mouths.

Shiro concentrates on the clicking, and tells himself that this is his Paladin. Meaning and words start to flow into his mind like a steady, but untidy stream.

“Thank you, Lance,” Hunk says, hugging him. “I know that took a lot of courage, man. Thanks.”

“You could’ve saved us a long time ago, you coward,” Pidge teases. “Oh my god, this is so cool!”

“That’s because I’m the coolest,” Shiro hears Lance’s voice answer. “Did you see how badass that was?”

“Uh, no, you’re way more bitten than we are,” Keith comments and then seems to suddenly remember: “You kissed Shiro!”

“Uh, no, I was saving his life,” Lance defends himself and winks at Shiro. “Glad your head didn’t have time to implode.”

“We wouldn’t be down here if you hadn’t run away,” Keith sullenly insists.

“Oh, about that!” Lance exclaims, and starts excitingly swimming back and forth. In the back of Shiro’s head, he can hear that the clicks are becoming quicker and whinier. “You need to come see her!”

“Who?” Shiro asks. “The one who made you…?”

“She knew what I was from the first day,” Lance lets Shiro know. “She knew I wouldn’t drown.”

“Well, if you had told us that…”

Lance scratches his neck. “Yeah, sorry about that. It’s a long story, which I will tell you at another time. Anyhow, follow me!”

He does a whirl in the water as he changes direction, and starts to swim even further down.

Shiro looks at Hunk as he starts to follow.

“So this is what you were keeping from us,” Shiro slowly says. “How in the world did you figure it out ahead of us?”

“Uh, honestly, I didn’t?” Hunk answers. “Remember that break I told you about, where the school closed down, and how I brought him home? Our island has always been full of mermaid myths. I always figured it was because we were surrounded by sea. My grandma used to say, that if you ever saw a person swimming beyond a mile away from the coast, you shouldn’t acknowledge them in any way. You can’t speak with them, touch them, you can’t even think of them.”

“Cold,” Lance says. “We’re just looking for some fun.”

“You’re looking to get our bastard children,” Hunk chastises.

“You should be honored!” Lance answers.

Hunk hums. “My grandma used to say that the really bad ones would sing you into it. Coming into the water with them.”

Lance doesn’t answer.

“Anyways, she noticed Lance going out to swim everyday, and accused him of it. I didn’t believe her at that time of course, but when weird stuff started happening, I thought…”

“That’s why we let you go,” Keith realizes. “You sung to us.”  He slams a fist into Lance’s tail, and Lance yelps.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Lance sheepishly apologizes. “She really brainwashed the shit out of me. Normally I would never do that.”

“Why didn’t Keith fall for it?” Shiro asks, still husky.

“I think, he hears the sound frequencies I’m sending out differently than you,” Lance answers. “As always you’re a pain, mullet.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Shiro asks. He doesn’t just feel weird. He feels sad that Lance chose not to trust the team. Or just trust Shiro. Shiro kept Pidge’s secret for a while, hadn’t he? Shiro could’ve protected Lance, if Lance wasn’t ready to tell the team.

Lance doesn’t answer right away. His tail undulates softly as he easily keeps their pace. “After the whole thing with Keith…” he starts at last. “I mean, Allura’s treatment of Keith. I know what the Galra did was wrong, but all of us knew that had 0% to do with Keith. And still nobody really said anything, when Allura started treating him differently. Hell, I didn’t say anything.”

Lance stops and stares at them. “Promise you won’t tell a soul if we get back to Earth.”

“Of course not,” Shiro answers.

Lance stares hard at them. “They’re gonna kill my family,” he adds. “They’re gonna kill me. Dissect us and put us in a lab.”

“Lance, we won’t tell anybody,” Keith says. “If we do, you can tell on me and we can get cut up together.”

“That’s not funny!” Lance says.

“It wasn’t meant to be.”

Keith stares hard into Lance bright eyes, and then suddenly Lance shoots forward, and throws his arms around Keith’s shoulders.

“Thanks, dropout,” he murmurs, before pulling back.

“So who is this sea witch?” Pidge asks, as Lance wraps an arm around their shoulders and gives them a squeeze. Hunk is wearing the biggest grin. But Shiro can’t help but frown.

“You’ll see,” Lance answers.


	5. Eyes of Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright, that’s enough,” Allura says. “We’re pushing you down now, and you’ll be fine. We’ll have a long talk about this as soon as you’re awake, Lance. Any final words?”
> 
> Lance looks at her for a moment, before landing his gaze on Keith. “Wait,” he says. He waves a hand at the red Paladin, and Keith suspiciously jumps up onto the lift to get closer.
> 
> They stare deeply into each other’s eyes for what seems like the longest time. Then Lance takes Keith’s hand and cups it with both of his fanned ones. He stares at their hands with a solemn expression.
> 
> “Do I need to remind you that you are bleeding to death?” Allura impatiently asks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, huge shoutout to Ashacrone for making my SF steak medium-rare instead of just rare (i'm sorry that was terrible). Make sure to check out her latest Voltron fics, and be sure to give her a lick from me ;)

They reach the ocean floor, and what – or maybe who – waits for them there is a surprising find. What they might have expected was long rows of sharp teeth, predator eyes, rough crocodile skin. They might have imagined one of those ugly deep sea fish back on Earth, or worse, a siren version of them.

Instead they find what looks like a blue whale. Its skin is translucent, and can almost be compared to looking through a thick fog, the outlines of its organs visible. The skin radiates a soft white light. Its eyes are bigger than a whale’s though, almond-shaped and brown and surprisingly intelligent, almost like an elephant’s. Transparent oral arms, much like a jellyfish’s, come out of its sides and floats besides its tail. Shiro can’t help but notice that, nearer a white light, Lance’s tail isn’t green at all, but azure, like his eyes seem to be when he’s in the water. The knife that Lance has is made of flint, to his surprise, bound onto Lance’s wrist tightly with seaweed. The weapon looks primitive, but Lance wears it like it’s second nature.

As Lance swims near it, the tentacles shoot forwards and grab the Paladins.

“Lola, no!” Lance shouts as the Paladins struggle to get loose, their arms pinned down. “They’re like me, you can’t use them!”

The oral arms immediately loosen in what feels like sudden disinterest. The creature makes a very slow and very deep click, as the oral arms fall back into place.

“I thought you said it was harmless!” Hunk shouts.

“Never said that,” Lance says. “I said that it didn’t eat me anyway.”

“ _Anyway_?” Keith repeats.

“Yeah, instead she told me about her situation,” Lance answers. “She’s the one who’s been killing Birkneans, but not in the way you think! She’s not carnivorous at all!”

“So she kills for fun,” Pidge sourly comments.

“No, just let me explain,” Lance says and swims over the back of Lola, and floats over her body, his hands sliding over her skin, almost reassuringly. “You remember how the Birkneans told us to only fish in the shoals instead of near where we landed the Castle, because there weren’t enough fish in other areas? And how people had resorted to eating sve?”

‘Sve’ as in the horrendously big whales covered in keratin plates shaped like feathers? Shiro thinks.

“Yeah?” Pidge says.

“That sparkly algae all around us? That’s what Lola eats,” Lance tells them. “That’s why she’s shining.” He rubs his fanned fingers over her skin. “The shields that protect this planet, the pipes you saw on the way down here? Well, the Birkneans use the water as a coolant, and that has been causing thermal pollution, aka why the water is way murkier with algae than it should be. Lola and her kind eat the algae, but her species is dying out. The rays that attacked you? They live off sve carcass, and so does Lola.”

“I thought you said she wasn’t carnivorous?” Keith asks suspiciously.

“She isn’t. But she reproduces asexually, and she does it by planting an egg in the liver of a dead sve. The eggs need the high concentration of vitamin A, and whatever warmth is left in the carcass, to crack. The fingerling eats its way out.” Lance gestures wildly. “Because the Birkneans have eaten all of the sve and prevented sve falls, Lola can’t reproduce! No one eats the algae, and that’s why the fish are dying, which means that the Birkneans will eat even more of the sve! We need to talk to the head chief!”

They all stare at him.

“But what did Lola want with you?” Shiro asks, still suspicious. “For you to bring the message to the chief?”

“And more importantly, why did you name her after your sister?” Pidge asks.

“Oh. That.” Lance scratches his head with a nervous smile. “She tried to put an egg inside me, but the egg was too big to get into my mouth and I would cool before the egg had cracked if she pierced a hole into me.”

Hunk makes a choking sound.

“Once she realized I was of no use, she stopped brainwashing me,” Lance continues with a happy grin. “She tried to do the same to the Birkneans, but their bodies aren’t made of the best stuff to make the eggs grow.”

Shiro doesn’t know if he should be disgusted or sympathetic, but no matter how he feels about it, what Lance says seemed to be true: The water is murky, the fish are dying, and the scavengers seem to be desperate. They had to inform the head chief. If it continued this way, the fish would die and at the end the water Birkneans would suffer.

“How intelligent is she?” Pidge asks, as they swim nearer and land on Lola’s back.

Lance shrugs. “Like me, I guess.”

“So not at all,” Keith comments, as he follows Pidge, scowling at Lola’s arms.

Lola clicks.

Lance lowers further down, rubbing his face at her skin. She makes a quicker, lighter click.

“You seem to get along well,” Shiro notices.

“Yeah, she’s a whale-ish,” Lance says. “I freaking love whales.”

They stare at him silently as he continues rubbing her.

“You swim with whales often?” Keith tries to nonchalantly ask.

Faintly, Shiro notices Lance’s clicking slow down.

“My family and I once swam all the way to the tip of South American,” Lance slowly answers. “There were whales there.” He pats Lola for the last time, and says: “We should go. I’m bleeding, and I don’t want to lead them here.” Them? The rays? He sends the team a look as he starts to swim up. “Also, don’t lose your helmets again. I can’t pull that trick a second time.”

“Kissing Shiro?” Hunk asks.

Lance’s tail seems to flinch, as he looks at Shiro. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“It saved my life, so don’t be,” Shiro reassures. “But why is it only a one-time thing?”

Lance shrugs. “I don’t know. Before I go into the water, I draw in one last breath with my lungs. Then I start breathing through my gills, but I can blow that one breath into someone and they grow gills until they’re exposed to air again. I don’t know how though. We don’t exactly have a lot of scientists working on it.”

“Understandable,” Pidge says. “Do you know where you come from?”

Lance looks over his shoulder again, visibly growing discomfort. “Legends vary. Deep-sea mermaids don’t look much like humans. But lower-water merpeople like me, have a history of breeding with humans.” He twitches at the word ‘breeding’. “My father told me that we used to live in symbioses with the indigenous people of Cuba. We helped them catch fish, and they provided us tools and the means for us to be safe from larger predators in the water. But then the Spanish came, and the humans we were in contact with were colonized. As much as we tried to help them, eventually we had to swim into the deeper waters. Our population was sparse for some centuries.” He quiets for a moment, seems deeply in thought, before he quickly says: “But we’re back and on land!”

Shiro frowns, unsettled by the obvious way Lance was skipping information. But he figures that Lance will talk about it in his own time.

“But how do you have legs?” Pidge is not feeling the same way as Shiro.

The water is becoming darker as they leave the glowing cloud of algae.

“We’ve always had legs,” Lance finally answers. “Our human form is supposed to be temporary though, not constant.”

“Why?” Keith asks.

But Shiro has an inkling of what the answer could be. “Do you… uh… use your human form to reproduce?” Shiro quietly asks.

Lance nods, and they turn their headlights on. In the dark, where only his glowing eyes are showing, he seems to be more at ease when he answers: “Yeah. We have this form to reproduce.” He visibly shudders. The words ‘breeding’ and ‘reproduce’ obviously irk him. “But then humans started exploring the lower waters, and we started staying on land.”

“Wait…” Hunk pauses for a second. “So when you say you can make a human breathe underwater, you mean…”

“Hunk!” Lance exclaims and turns to glare at Hunk, his outrage only sounding partially theatrical. Alright, so Lance was obviously uncomfortable with the whole breeding conversation. Which makes sense. The guy had always been a romantic, and defined himself as a free bird. It would fit that the thought of having sex with people just to get children might make him squirmy.

Hunk lifts his hands. “Sorry man.”

“… you’re totally right, though,” Lance sighs. “We use the breath to mate with humans in more… comfortable zones, if we don’t feel completely safe doing it on land.”

“So you flirt all the time, because your mating instinct intensifies on land?” Pidge curiously asks.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Shiro interrupts. “We will talk about this more when we have talked with the head chief.”

Lance’s clicks deepen in appreciation for the interruption, and for a while they just swim.

“Hey, is that why you always suddenly dump your girlfriends?” Hunk asks.

“ _Hunk_ ,” Shiro says because he swears it’s been literally two minutes since he told them to not inquire further into that particular subject. Yet, Shiro feels his own curiosity suddenly grow. So Lance _was_ experienced? And he was the one who ended up leaving them? Was he afraid of them finding out about him? Had any of them known? They mustn’t have, Lance couldn’t even tell the team, and he’s been spending all of his time with them in close quarters for a year, sharing Voltron’s bond, trusting them with his life… Or were they just incompatible mating material? Perhaps not mature enough to know the family secret?

They swim to the surface, and it’s almost surreal to see Lance’s face above a water surface. In Shiro’s mind, he can somehow finally connect the Lance he knows, the blue Paladin, the skin care freak, his sharpshooter, with this scaly, mysterious merman in the water. Besides his tail, Lance’s body has the same tan skin color as always, but there’s a scatter of blue scales all over his shoulders and a blue tint on his underarms, gradually transitioning into azure blue hands. Birkne’s three moons are shining down on the water, providing them with light.

“Are you gonna tell Allura?” Lance asks. It’s the first thing Lance has said with his human voice in this shape, and another bloom of disassociation hits Shiro.

His voice is heavy, and Shiro is reminded that Lance is just a boy. All of them are barely adults. But of course, Shiro is the oldest, so all of them look at Shiro for response, and Shiro has to sigh and say, “You know that we have to.”

Lance nods, and lowers his face beneath the surface, his hair floating out like the petals of a water lily.

“Nothing will happen,” Hunk hesitantly assures. “Why would Allura mind?”

Lance shrugs and starts clicking, but so lowly Shiro can’t really understand. Then he tilts his head, and says, “We should go. Shark thingies live in the deeper waters, but they’ll come when they smell my blood.” He looks at the small floating cottages close to the coast, shining like fireflies in the distance.

They head towards the shore, and Shiro notices that Lance is swimming slowly, purposely putting distance between them. Keith, who keeps looking back at him, finally hisses: “What are you doing?”

Lance shrugs again, looking uneasy.

“Are you gonna run off again?” Hunk asks.

“No,” Lance says. “Listen, I’m gonna swim the other way around the cottages. Can you please wait for me at the shore by the Castle?”

Before either of them can protest, Lance dives underwater and disappears into its darkness within two seconds. They try to call out for him for a while, but Shiro has to trust Lance’s decision and makes the team swim to the shore. They don’t take off their helmets or sit down. They know that if Lance asked them to wait for him, he probably really meant: “Make sure I get back”. He had chosen to swim away from them, away from the cottages, wanting to make sure that he didn’t lead anyone into danger. The battle with the rays proved that, in the water, Lance was clearly stronger and quicker than them, even with their armors, and him leaving them meant that he didn’t want them to slow him down. But Lance isn’t wearing his helmet; how would they know if he got into trouble?

“He’s an idiot,” Hunk says and kicks a rock.

Shiro doesn’t answer. While he wants to trust Lance’s judgment, Lance could sometimes be a self-sacrificing fool.

“Idiot,” Keith repeats, and starts to walk back into the water.

“Stay here and wait for Lance,” Shiro instructs Pidge and Hunk, as he starts to follow, but before they get too far in, they can hear the roar of a lion.

They look up, and see Blue shoot over the night sky. She plummets into the water at least two miles away from them. Shiro holds his breath, and puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder, stopping him from continuing to lower into the water. Distantly he notices that the Birkneans are coming out of their cottages, unsettled by the lion’s presence. For some reason he can’t breathe as he waits, and it’s Hunk and Pidge who flies towards the cottages, instructing everybody to stay inside and out of the water.

He can’t breathe and his heart is beating ever more rapidly. Familiar waves of nauseating phantom pains start in his arm, and he can’t see anything, and suddenly Keith is holding him tight.

\----

When Shiro comes to, Keith is stroking his hair and mumbling softly at him. The water reaches their knees, Keith clearly having dragged them in a bit, and the water softly laps at their armors, the sound reassuring. Keith has taken off his helmet, and Shiro’s helmet too, and the wind is damp and cool on his face.

Underneath the armor, his skin feels clammy with cold sweat and his vision seems to come in glimpses.

“See,” Keith whispers, pointing at the sky, where Shiro notices a light is flashing like a shooting star. “Blue is flying back to the Castle. She has him. Everything’s under control.”

It’s the magic words. Everything isn’t disappearing, rapidly happening around him outside of his control.  He isn’t helpless, and he isn’t forced to see his teammates disappear again. He feels Keith’s cold nose against his temple, and he raises his human hand and clasps Keith’s hand on top of his chest. He exhales, and tries to get his legs to work. Keith supports him, and as if the boy Keith is breathing heat into him, the shaking of Shiro’s limbs starts to subside. His heart is still beating rapidly, but Lance is safe. He has to be. Everything is under control.

\----

When the Paladins get there, Allura and Coran aren’t waiting for them. They assume to the worst, and go directly for the infirmary. On the way there, they find a long trail of dark red blood coming from the hangar, and as they suspect, it leads them to the infirmary.

The lights are all bright in there, and Lance’s still figure lies on a table, a pool of fresh pool growing underneath it. Allura and Coran’s arms are stained with blood as they’re working frantically to stop the bleeding located at the end of his tail.

“Finally,” Allura snaps as they get there. “Shiro and Keith, help me stop the bleeding, Hunk and Pidge go with Coran to set up the aquatic healing tank. Hurry!”

Hunk and Pidge go with Coran immediately, and Shiro and Keith go to take over Coran’s job.

Three chunks of Lance’s tail are missing. One in the tail fin, and two at the end of his tail, almost severing his tail fin from the rest of his tail. Thankfully, Lance is breathing through his lungs, but he’s breathing slowly, his eyes glazed, and clicking so softly they can’t understand him.

“Lola?” Shiro manages to hear him weakly call out. “Lola? Can you…”

After a moment, Lance exhales deeply and something peaceful goes over his face. He starts to smile a little bit as his eyes start to close and –

Allura slaps his face with loud _SMACK._

“Don’t you dare fall asleep,” she snaps, Lance’s eyes wide and his breathing quickening. “You still have to explain yourself.”

They tourniquet and bandage his tail, and soon Pidge asks them to come, and Allura rolls the table into a small side chamber. It’s dark in there, empty, except for the big aquarium tank. It’s softly illuminated with a yellow light, and it bubbles from a filter in the corner of it. Coran has prepared a lift, and it takes Allura, Hunk and Shiro to transfer Lance onto it. Lance is zoning out again as it starts to rise towards the ceiling of the tank.

“I love you guys,” Lance blabbers in the clicking language of his. “I don’t wanna die, but I’m glad to have died by your side. Princess. Moustache. Mullet. Gremlin. My Best Bro. Space Dad.”

Shiro coughs, and Keith unceremoniously pinches him.

“Aw! I’m dying over here!” Lance shouts in English. Keith pinches him again, and Lance shrieks.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Allura says. “We’re pushing you down now, and you’ll be fine. We’ll have a long talk about this as soon as you’re awake, Lance. Any final words?”

Lance looks at her for a moment, before landing his gaze on Keith. “Wait,” he says. He waves a hand at the red Paladin, and Keith suspiciously jumps up onto the lift to get closer.

They stare deeply into each other’s eyes for what seems like the longest time.  Then Lance takes Keith’s hand and cups it with both of his fanned ones. He stares at their hands with a solemn expression.

“Do I need to remind you that you are bleeding to death?” Allura impatiently asks.

“Trying to build up atmosphere over here,” Lance pouts. “Keith,” he says a bit more seriously. “I – “

But before Lance can continue, Keith bows down and presses his lips against Lance’s. It feels like Shiro’s stomach has suddenly decided to curdle, as he hears a collective gasp around him. He can feel all the blood run out of his face. He doesn’t know why he is reacting this way. This should be a good thing; he has tried to set the two boys up himself. So why does it feel like Shiro is being abandoned? Left behind? Why does he feel so alone all of a sudden?

Lance blinks quickly, before he slowly closes his eyes with a tender expression.  Shiro feels sick to his stomach. When the kiss ends it feels like it has gone on for an eternity.

Keith straightens, his face almost the same shade of red as his armor, and Lance smiles smugly, as he falls back down on his back, at some point having sat up.

“I knew you would give in first,” he grins.

“You initiated it,” Keith says.

“Alright, enough of that,” Allura interrupts with a fond smile and literally rolls Lance into the aquarium like a heavy tree trunk.

Lance flails in surprise, but as soon as he is subsumed in the water he stills. His eyes close, and he sinks to the bottom of the tank down, his gills starting to do that waving motion which means he’s breathing with them.

“What the quiznak,” Hunk says in the silence left behind. “Are you two…?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Keith says, crossing his arm, his face still hot.

“Whatever, Lance is gonna tell me everything anyways as soon as I’ve gotten a hold of him,” Hunk says, stretching lazily. “What a night.”

Allura is starting to look at her bloody clothes with a wrinkled nose. “Lance will need quintents to heal. Everybody go shower and sleep. We will talk about this tomorrow.”

“We will need to talk to the head chief first,” Shiro remembers to say. His voice sounds so far away. When has it gotten so cold in here? “It’s important.”

Allura frowns. “You know that getting an audience with the head chief is more difficult than that, Paladin.”

“Their fish are dying, and it’s because of the shields,” Pidge says. “Lola told us.”

“Lola?” Coran asks.

The Paladins explain what happened, and Allura listens with an unsettled expression.

“I will try to contact the head chief immediately,” Allura says. “Go rest, I will take care of this issue.”

\----

Shiro doesn’t expect to fall asleep after his shower, his body shaking and twitching with adrenaline and stress, but as soon as his body hits his mattress, he unexpectedly crashes.

He wakes up because the Castle is shaking, and wrapping his comforter around him, he puts on his lion slippers and goes to the nearest window. There, he finds that Allura has chosen to take off from the coast.

Frowning he goes to the control room, and sees Allura stand at her post. Coran stands by her side, and they’re chattering softly.

“Where are we going?” Shiro asks, and suppresses a yawn.

“The head chief allowed us to know his whereabouts for this meeting,” Allura informs. “Go back to sleep, we will be there in 5 vargas.”

Shiro feels kinda bad about relaxing while they’re still awake though. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asks.

Allura looks over her shoulder. “No, not until we land. Go to bed, Shiro, I need you all rested before we reach our goal.”

Shiro nods, but he feels useless, so he heads to the healing chambers. The main healing chamber is of course empty, but it doesn’t surprise him when he finds Keith in the smaller healing chamber, sitting on the floor, and glaring at the healing tank, as if it will hurry up if he continues glaring at it. Shiro can’t help but smile fondly. Keith was always so impatient.

Shiro sits down besides Keith. The yellow lighting of the tank softly illuminates his face. Lance is no longer on the bottom of the tank, but floating, his tail undulating, his eyes shut, his arms stretched out and fingers spread.  

“What is he doing…?” Keith asks after a while.

“I think that’s how dolphins usually sleep,” Shiro guesses.

Keith watches Lance for a minute, before asking: “You had a flashback. Are you okay now?”

Shiro is about to answer like usual – some variation of “I’m fine” – but something makes him answer: “I will get there.”

Keith turns his head, and gives Shiro a strange look. He doesn’t look surprised per se. It doesn’t surprise him that Shiro isn’t okay and Shiro wonders how long he has known – and if the other Paladins knew too. But it surprises Keith that Shiro is admitting it.

“I’m here,” Keith says, and puts a hand on Shiro’s biceps.

Shiro tries to answer, but he looks at Lance, and finds that he can’t answer truthfully. Maybe Keith will be able to sense the shameful lie, wolf that he is, and Shiro doesn’t want him to know that Shiro’s stomach has been in knots for that reason. “You and Lance…” he slowly says instead. “How long…?”

Keith shrugs a shoulder. “I think we always knew there was something,” he says. “But this was the first time…” He sighs. “I didn’t expect him to make the first move. Sometimes he seemed so oblivious, I thought it was all in my head.”

Shiro nods. “I’ve gotta admit I didn’t expect him to be the most… self-conscious person on that area either.”

“You’re wrong.”

They both turn at the sound of the third voice. Hunk is standing by the door.

“He’s actually really good at sensing these stuff,” Hunk continues with a sigh as he moves into the room, his comforter also draped over his shoulders. “Problem is that he flirts for fun, and that makes people think he doesn’t know when he’s out of his league. Don’t be too quick to judge though; he’s had dozens of flirtations since he started at the Garrison.”

Both Keith’s and Shiro’s brows hit their hairlines. If this had come from anybody else, Shiro would be tempted to think that they are exaggerating Lance’s feats for the sake of his ego. But despite Hunk’s ability to omit things, he’s never been one to exaggerate or lie.

“Oh?” Shiro asks.

Hunk smiles good-naturedly. “Why is that so surprising to people? I know, those lines are really lame, but they make a nice icebreaker, and girls feel more…” He shrugs. “The lines are to make girls relax around him. Laugh at his attempts, rather than be suspicious of him.” He huffs. “But I guess it makes sense. Lance has never been the type to kiss and tell.”

Thinking about Lance’s corny lines in that way actually made their purpose make a little more sense. To get extra credit, Shiro had been a peer advisor for a year or so, and he had been surprised about the numbers of sexual harassment reports on campus he had received, not to mention the sexual assault.

“Did he have someone before we left Earth?” Keith asks, almost growling, because of course that’s the part he focused on.

Hunk shrugs. “Nah. As I said before, he usually dropped them shortly after.” Then he gives Keith a look way heavier and more serious than Shiro thought he could muster. “Take care of him,” he says and pats Keith’s fist on the floor. Then he engulfs his comforter around himself like a sleeping bag, and promptly falls asleep.

Shiro puts himself in between Hunk and Keith, and closes his eyes. Keith’s eyes are on the door and Hunk’s facing towards the tank.

He’s just about to fall asleep when he hears the door open again. He and Keith sit up, but it’s just Pidge. They sneak inside, and attach something to the tank. Unlike the rest of them, they clearly haven’t attempted sleeping yet, and they nudge in between Shiro and Hunk, stealing some of Shiro’s comforter and Hunk’s body heat, before they crash.

Looking at the tank, Shiro starts to think. Somehow he starts to wonder if being a mermaid made Lance different from the rest of them. After all, Shiro has noticed that each species they meet on each planet doesn’t only have physical differences, but also psychological ones and it was usually reflected in their culture. Shiro now knows that Earth is one of the few planets, which have different languages despite being dominated by the same species. Regarding culture, humans were utterly uncontrollable and dynamic; it had outraged Allura that things like language, literature, music, and art, was constantly changing beyond anyone’s grasp on Earth. That’s why Allura and Coran could easily lose their cool, when one of them started twisting words for fun. While Altea had been quick to evolve, they were slow when it came to cultural change. They evolved quickly when it came to new technology and societal advancements, but culturally they were rather conservative.

Allura had once asked them that of all of the planets they had been to, what planet seemed the most like Earth. They hadn’t known what to answer at first; such a judgment was, after all, easier to make when you were an outsider. Or rather, it’s easier because such a question was bound to have an oversimplified answer, which only an outsider could make.

But after a minute or two, Pidge had answered: “Honestly? We’re most like the Galra.”

The Castle had an old database about different planets, and each planet had a description that was, at most, three words. The reason why the descriptions were reduced to three words were simple; not only did each journal have to be short and concrete, but it also stopped one from forming too many assumptions based on data, which was limited either way. It forced one to observe each species better and be more open-minded, and of course, the Castle had a library if you really needed more information that three words. As bad as summing up a species’ characteristics in three words sounded, when done gracefully, it was rather efficient. Altea defined themselves as progressive, proud and homogenous. The Galra was (pre-war) defined as aggressive, smart and somewhat hive-minded.

“But nothing about you seem like the Galra at all,” Allura had said in surprise.

“Allura,” Pidge seriously said. “You’re staring at a handful of statistical outliers.”

While Lance had his protests about that, Pidge won the argument in the end, stating that Keith, Shiro and Lance, despite not having a specific field of expertise, got into one of Earth’s most difficult astronaut schools for a reason.

“All the things the Galra have done to the universe, we’ve pretty much already done to ourselves,” Pidge frowned.

“Should I be worried?” Allura asked, mostly joking, but her eyes were shaded with old fears.

Hunk had shrugged.  “We have the weapons, but we don’t have as efficient a form of space travel as the Galra have, so don’t worry.”

But Shiro quickly shoots down the thought. Lance and his family have been living near humans all their life, and as Lance stated, bred with them. Surely, this doesn’t change anything. Keith being half-Galra didn’t change anything. No, there is only one thing that changed anything, and that was that stupid kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna be busy with exams for the next couple of weeks (as I'm sure many of you will be too), so there might not be any updates in that period of time. Wish me good luck, and thanks for reading~


	6. Twinkle, Twinkle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “He always said I didn’t appreciate his singing because my mullet covered my ears and a cut would help,” Keith says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Thanks for the patience ^^  
> I am finally over my exams, and waiting for results now *pulls out hair* this is fine.
> 
> My beta, the one and only Ashacrone, was uper-duper-super quick to edit. She has a really interesting project coming up soon, so go ahead and check her out, especially for those of you who like Shiro-centric stories :3 
> 
> Also, the rating has gone up as Shklance got their shit together a lot quicker than I anticipated. I will make sure to enter a page break for those of you who may mind the smut, which is coming up in a few chapters. 
> 
> And one last thing!: Belated Ramadan Karim for my Muslim people!

The Paladins wake up sluggishly. Allura, fortunately, has decided not to start a test drill, so they get up and get to the training deck. It’s empty, so they go through their usual routine.  It’s not that they all really want to, but the routine supplies them a sense of relief and security, so they go through it. It’s awfully quiet without Lance, but Shiro forces himself not to wrap it up early. Afterwards they go to eat breakfast. Allura and Coran aren’t there either, though they passed Coran on the way to the aquatic healing chamber.

Pidge catches Hunk referring to his lion as his “old boy”.

“They’re probably supposed to resemble female lions,” Pidge argues.

“How would you know? They’re made out of metal, they don’t have fur, so we won’t know if they’re supposed to have manes,” Hunk protests.

“Yeah, but our lions have narrows hips and broad shoulders. Male lions don’t have that.”

“Have you ever heard Allura using pronouns?” Hunk insists. “Besides, the lions are Altean. Who says they look like ours?”

The discussion goes on, and it almost feels normal. When it has gotten quiet, Allura calls for them.

“The head chief wants a meeting this evening,” she almost absently tells them, before throwing up a hologram. “I’ve been going through the footage of Lance’s final escape, to have a clearer picture of how his singing works, and why Alteans are immune to his efforts. While I still don’t have a clear picture of just how many species we can use this new ability against, I did realize that on the day of his escape, it wasn’t the first time he utilized his ability.”

“That somehow doesn’t surprise me at all,” Hunk says, his arms crossed.

Allura smiles. “He has, as a matter of fact, effectively been practicing on pretty much everyone in this room.”

“Lance sings while he cleans all the time,” Coran tells them. “He didn’t for the first few months, but I suspect that he realized that it wouldn’t work on me, and he relaxed about it.”

“Take a look at this,” Allura says, and selects a file on the hologram.

An image of Hunk’s room shows up. Hunk is on the floor, doing push-ups. His shirt is off, and he’s sweating. Lance is lying on his bed, arms wrapped behind his head.

“Dude, come on,” Lance complains, obviously not for the first time by the degree of annoyance in his voice. “I wanna sleep already.”

“Then do,” Hunk huffs.

Lance pouts. “You know I came here to cuddle with you,” Lance whines. “Come oooon.”

He sing-songs it, but the effect is immediate. Hunk freezes in the middle of a push-up, and Lance blinks at him. Slowly a smile unravels on his face as he realizes what he accidently did.

“You should go shower,” he continues in a normal voice, and Hunk sits up. “Before going to bed.”

“That’s a good idea, Lance,” Hunk easily complies and immediately turns to walk to the bathroom. Lance smiles for a second, before making a face.

The next video is of Pidge in their hanger. Lance is walking through the doors, mid-stretch, and asks: “What are you doing?” Pidge ignores him, and he takes it as an invitation to stand over Pidge’s shoulder, and stare at the endless lines of codes they have opened.

“What’s that,” Lance asks.

“A virus,” Pidge answers, clearly annoyed.

Lance looks at them, and asks: “When was the last time you got your beauty sleep?”

Pidge doesn’t answer him.

“Seriously, with how your natural dark circles are, you’re really in need –“

“Lance,” Pidge snaps. “Not now. My father and brother might be dead right now, and this virus is going to spread and search for their faces through the whole Galra database once it’s finished, but I can’t get it right, and I  _ fucking _ can’t – “

The rambling abruptly breaks off. Pidge’s eyes are red. Shiro can see their shoulders shaking, fingers still hovering over the keyboard, as if trying to force themselves to move them. Pidge’s eyes become glazed, and they bite their lip.

“Pidge,” Lance says, but he sounds serious rather than pitying. “Look at me.”

They don’t turn, and so Lance puts his fingers on their chin. As he turns their face, they go “Lance, what the quiznack are you doing,” but immediately quiets when they meet Lance’s stare. His eyes have brightened into that azure color.

The microphone starts to do interference, but Shiro can hear Lance say: ”You’ll find them. Please keep hanging on.”

He hums softly, and Pidge stares at Lance with wide eyes, all silent. Lance finally closes his mouth, and smiles. ”But for now, let’s go sleep, ay?” He pulls them up on their feet, and before they know it, they’re dragged out of the room.

“That son of a bitch,” Pidge says behind Shiro.

The next footage is Lance wandering the hallways at night, singing loudly and beautifully in some sort of melodic song containing Spanish words which Shiro don’t know the meaning of. The recordings of the singing don’t affect Shiro the same way it did face to face, and Shiro can actually tell how Lance sings. At first impression Lance sings in a tenor voice, like the one he has when he speaks normally. But as he moves into the different notes of singing, it feels like Lance’s voice has an androgynous note to it. Shiro’s mother was a violinist in her younger days, and Shiro grew up with different opera singers always singing in the evening, and Lance’s voice sometimes gets so high and yet soft, that Shiro could mistake his voice for a woman’s. Other times his voice dips into something that could be on the edge of being bass. The higher registers make Shiro dizzy with it, while the deeper tones make Shiro feel heavy, even though it’s just sound coming from a recording.

On the recording Lance walks back and forth through the hallways several times, before yawning loudly and going back to his room. Allura fast-forwards at least four hours. There’s a sound of rustling coming from Shiro’s room. Allura brings up another file, an audio one, and they can all hear Shiro’s loud breathing, him hyperventilating into a panic attack. The sound makes Shiro feel cold, but the team seems unsurprised . Which means they already know, have heard it themselves before, which is even more embarrassing. It shouldn’t be. They’ve been there during plenty of his panic attacks. Still, there’s a part of Shiro which doesn’t want to appear weak in front of them. Not voluntarily, like this.

But Allura quickly closes the audio file as if sensing Shiro’s embarrassment, and in the footage, Lance is dragging himself out of his room again. Slumped, he walks over to Shiro’s door on silent, bare feet, and sits down by Shiro’s door. Then he starts singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. And to Shiro’s surprise the sound of rustling from his room quiets down.  

When it’s totally quiet, Lance stands up and walks back to his room, asleep on his feet.

“It appears that how deeply you’re affected by his voice is all about proximity,” Allura reports. “In all of these files, he has been careful to sing through a wall, at a distance or establish eye contact first. I suspect that if he sings without doing any of these things, his target will be aware that they are being hypnotized, such as the night of his escape.” She turns to look at them with crossed arms. “However, I have rather sadly noticed that Lance’s singing doesn’t affect Keith nearly as much as the rest of you.”

They all turn to look at Keith.

“Let me demonstrate,” Allura says, and opens a file. It could’ve been recorded at the start of their year or at the end, because it’s a scene that never changes: Keith is fighting a gladiator. From what Shiro can tell by Keith’s fighting technique, it’s from the beginning of their time as Paladins. Keith is going hard, sweating buckets, and Lance is training his aim on the other side of the room. Lance puts away his Bayard, and stands up.

“Mullet,” he calls out. “Come on, it’s midnight already. I think.”

“You can go and sleep if you want to,” Keith grunts.

“Stop it already,” Lance drawls. “Everyone has gone to bed. There’s no one here to impress.”

“I, unlike somebody else, don’t train to impress anyone,” Keith says, nearly getting a kick to his teeth.

“Yeah, whatever,” Lance says, obviously not being able to come up with any better comeback. “Come on, before you hurt yourself.”

“Your talking is distracting me,” Keith hisses.

“End Gladiator level 9,” Lance says obnoxiously.

Keith scowls as the Gladiator shuts down in the middle of receiving a kick. “What was that for?”

“I already told you,” Lance answers, crossing his arms. He looks exhausted yet stubborn. “Don’t make me take measures.”

“Like what?” Keith asks.

Lance starts humming.

Keith blinks at him. “What are you doing?”

Lance blinks in surprise, and hums harder.

Keith rolls his eyes. “Gladiator, start level – “

Lance stops humming and shoots out a hand. He cups it around Keith’s neck, and forces eye contact. Keith stills, closing his mouth. They stare into each other’s eyes, and Lance’s eyes are bright again.

“Go to sleep, Keith,” Lance says.

“I can’t sleep,” Keith whispers back.

“Yes, you can,” Lance tells him, very firmly.

“Okay,” Keith answers back.

Lance slowly smiles. “Come on, let’s go shower first.”

Keith seems to be in a daze, but doesn’t seem directly brainwashed, like the rest of them.

Shiro looks back at Keith in real life, as Allura closes the files.

“You think he suspected?” Shiro asks. “You being Galra before we knew?”

Keith is just blinking slowly at the screen. “That little shit.”

“Keith,” Allura says, slightly reprimanding.

“He always said I didn’t appreciate his singing because my mullet covered my ears and a cut would help,” Keith says. “So he did know I was resistant. But whether he suspected anything about my origin, I don’t know.”

Allura nods at his words. “From now on, you and Lance will train so Lance can understand how to utilize his gift best against the Galra,” Allura announces. “While I don’t want him to use his ability against our allies, I would very much like that we use this as an advantage over the Galra. Lance seems to have some grip over you.”

“You want me to let him brainwash me?” Keith asks.

“We can try requesting Kolivan to send one of his people as a test subject,” Allura says. “While I think he will agree if his people aren’t hurt and there will be sufficient results, he will be hard to get a hold of, so let’s start with you, Keith.”

Keith nods.

Pidge hums, crossing their arms in thoughts. “The clicking makes sense. Dolphins usually produce them through air movements in their nasal passages, which explains why he never accidently clicked at us. I can imagine he’s only capable in his other form.” They tilt their heads. “But his vocal cords must have a much wider range than ours – heck, maybe he has more than two. But why do they affect our brains like that?”

“Magic?” Hunk asks.

“No such thing!” Pidge gasps, like Hunk just slapped them. “How dare you?”

Hunk wiggles his brows at them with a teasing grin.

Allura sits down on her chair. “Tell me more about what you know about these merpeople?”

Pidge shrugs. “They’ve been a myth in human societies for millennia. Many cultures have mentioned them at least once in their history. I think the earliest myth was a Syrian goddess?”

“Atargatis,” Shiro supplies. When they all throw him a weird look, he sheepishly shrugs. “I was into myths as a teen. Atargatis goes back 1000 BC as far as I recall. But legends vary. I think the myths continued in Greece. But in Greek mythology you distinguish between a siren and a mermaid, and Lance seems to be both.”

“A siren is more of a bird-creature than a sea one,” Hunk supplies. “They had the ability to sing men into their deaths. In Samoan mythology there aren’t much talk about mermaids, but one of our gods, Vatea, has been mentioned as half porpoise.”

When Allura looks back at Shiro, he says: “In Japan, they’re known for granting immortality if you consume them. Again, the myths vary, but I think Lance matches best to the Western version of a mermaid. It varies from culture to culture how sentient mermaids are, and if they have human standards of morality.”

“The myths of merpeople have been consistent over the course of history and people often state having seen them,” Pidge continues. “While some marine biologists don’t believe that their existence is totally out of the question, there has never been anything but theories.” They clap excitedly. “Until now!”

“Pidge,” Shiro chides. “Don’t do experiments on Lance, and please don’t be too intrusive. The subject is obviously still uncomfortable for him.”

“But there must be so many of them out there!” Pidge squeals. “Think about it what we could learn from them. Lance can breathe through both saltwater and freshwater, and his body can handle going through great pressures. The transformation alone – “

“Pidge,” Shiro says, more harshly. 

They make an effort to calm their excitement. “Right. Boundaries.”

Coran frowns. “What I don’t understand is that they could have kept themselves hidden for so long.”

Allura shakes her head. “As you told me, humans are generally more interested in space than your own planet. There’s a reason the Blue Lion hid on Earth; most of it is covered by water, is it not?”

Shiro nods. “We’ve explored more of our solar system than our sea. As far as we know, we have only covered 20% of it.”

“There could be millions of them out there,” Pidge whispers. “ _ Billions _ .”

Shiro sighs, and turns to look at Keith to see why Keith has gotten so quiet.

He probably should’ve looked back sooner. Maybe he’d have time to prevent the thundercloud on Keith’s face.

“Keith?” Shiro asks, almost too wary to ask. “What do you think?”

“I think we should stop talking about Lance like this,” Keith answers really quickly, like it has just been waiting to come out.

“Like what?” Pidge asks a little defensively.

“Like he’s a freak or something now,” Keith snaps back, but not as angry as he could’ve been. He has been working on his temper. “This doesn’t change anything about him.”

“I never said that,” Pidge says, their voice high.

Hunk is looking thoughtful. “He’s right, Pidge,” he says after a while. “We can’t write or record any of this.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Allura says, frowning. “This is just a simple information exchange.”

They all look at her in heavy silence, not knowing how to possibly explain why this bothers Keith.

“To you, being different from one another is a good thing,” Shiro finally says. “Because your planet specializes in integration, adaptation and cooperation. In our world, being different to one another is bad.”

Hunk scratches his head. “Many of the leaps we’ve done in the scientific world have been made through unethical means.”

Allura and Coran’s faces loosen in comprehension.

“I didn’t mean… “ Pidge fades as true comprehension finally shows on their face. “I get it,” they finally say. “I won’t ask him unless he initiates it.”

\----

That evening they armor up, and leave with Allura. The inland of the continent they’re on is very different than the coast area. There aren’t a lot of trees, but lots of fields of what looked like wild wheat. Its grey color is off putting, reminds Shiro of ash and smoke, but Hunk is happily chattering about gaining permission to take some. He’s not sure how exactly it differs from Earth’s wheat, and therefore he’s not sure how to make it into flour, but the idea of buns, bread and cake is too endearing for him to give up.

Shiro tries not to think about bread or rice. He misses bread. They’ve been eating a lot of fish and seaweed because of their stay on Birkne, which is always nostalgic, but he misses  _ carbs _ . He misses  _ meat _ . They rarely eat meat, either because of the risk of hyper vitamin toxicity, or because they’re not too sure how sentient animal-like aliens are, so they have lain off it. He tucks away his longing for food he wants, like he so often does.

The Birkneans on the inland are very much like the ones in the water. Their skin is more opaque with color, looks more like a porpoise’s than a jellyfishes’, and their color range shifts from brass colored to olive to red-browns. Their cottages are unlike the water Birkneans, built for shelter rather than protection. Where the water Birkneans had slowly gotten used to being in the same proximity as the Paladins’, the inland Birkneans give the Paladins a wide berth, and none of them dare to make eye contact as the town’s crowd breaks in half to let the Paladins come through. The crowd is eerily silent, all pretending not to see the Paladins, but not talking.

The head chief is small and unlike the rest of the Birkneans, completely transparent. His organs look like they’re made of glass, and have no visible movements. He sits in a nest of leaves and wet earth, his skin dirty. Only his eyes, huge and concave, are as black as the darkest parts of the universe than the Paladin’s have been in. The cottage smells like earth, iron and nectar, only lit up by small balls of light, which reminds Shiro of fireflies.

The head chief doesn’t greet them. He lifts his tiny hands – weird, small hands, which Shiro is glad none of the other Birkneans they’ve seen have had – and pokes at some of the lights. The balls of light rearrange and form a surprisingly detailed picture of Lola.

“Is this what you saw and talked to?” the head chief asks.

Shiro nods. “That is correct,” he agrees to be sure the head chief understands.

“We thought she was gone,” he tells them. “Depths make fractures. Green water spread, fish died. Sve last resort.” 

Shiro nods in understanding.

“Where blue paladin?” the head chief asks. “He speaks directly to the mrma?”

“Mrma?” Allura asks.

“Creature eating green water,” the head chief explains.

“Head chief,” Allura says. “With all due respect, I must remind you that even if you save the mrma, the problem will last until someone has looked at the shield pipes.”

Head chief crooks head. “Protection?”

“The pipes are using the water as a coolant,” Allura slowly explains. “They are what is making the algae spread so quickly. Shield pipes spread green water.”

The head chief turns his eyes at Allura. “We will heal.”

Allura nods. “If you ever need help, we have a mechanic specializing in exo-mechanics.”

Hunk has a natural gift to find out just how extraterrestrial mechanics ticked, and Coran had given him lessons, but calling him an expert might be an exaggeration. But again, the Birkneans language was basic, almost primitive and knowledge of context was everything if you had to try to understand them.

Allura waves Hunk forwards, and he steps forwards. “We had the same problem on our home planet,” Hunk says, speaking carefully slow. “I don’t know how your people’s mechanics work, but I can help to the best of my ability.”

The head chief lies himself down. “Yellow Paladin will gain knowledge of our shield system.”

“Not all of it,” Hunk unsurely says. “But yes. That’s a risk.”

Head chief closes his eyes. “Rest now. Speak later.”

That was as clear a dismissal as they could get, so they leave the cottage.

\----

As soon as they have left the proximity of the town, their coms cackle on.

“Princess,” Coran’s nervous voice says. “How did the exchange go?”

“As well as it could be,” Allura replies. “He’s going to consider our offer. I think it will help to bring Lance, seeing as he was the witness, to make us more trustworthy.”

“Speaking of Lance,” Coran says, a little more nervously. “It appears that he is gone.”

“What?” Allura exclaims, immediately picking up pace.

“You must understand, because of our five brave paladins, I’ve been too busy doing maintenance on the healing pods, and haven’t fully updated the aquatic healing tank,” Coran quickly explains. “The data told us that he should be out in the next quintent. But when I went to check on him, the tank was empty. I’ve been searching for him everywhere.”

“Have you searched the pool room?” Keith asks.

“Yes,” Coran answers. “I will continue the search, but the Castle is big and vast. I would appreciate assistance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... who thinks Lance using his abilities on his team without their consent is wrong, and who thinks it's justified? 'cause i was seriously conflicted.


	7. Rivers and sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “About Keith and I,” Lance says, his voice casual but his eyes serious. “I’m open to sharing.”
> 
> Shiro blinks. “What?”
> 
> Lance smiles sharply. “I know, Shiro.”
> 
> Shiro feels like crumpling in on himself. “What do you mean?”
> 
> “You’re jealous.”
> 
> Eh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, i really enjoyed reading you guys comments on the last chap. I hope you'll enjoy this one!

Where they end up finding Lance is on the training deck. Yes, unbelievable, but Lance isn’t on the training deck itself, but at its communal showers, which understandably doesn’t have any cameras. Shiro finds him there, standing in front of a mirror and madly plucking at his eyebrows with a pair of tweezers that he swore to Allura he hadn’t stolen. The skin underneath his eyebrows is red and slightly swollen, and Lance’s round, tiny ass is poking out as he leans over the sink. The dullness of his skin has been exchanged for it’s usual vibrant tan, his skin exfoliated and moisturized. There are scissors on the sink, locks of hair on it too, and his elbows, knees, feet and hands are red with the hot dampness of the room.

Shiro clears his throat.

Lance almost slips and falls, but as soon as he sees Shiro, he walks towards him. “Shiro, I broke out!” he exclaims pointing to the arch of his right cheekbone.

Shiro stares at the skin, where he sees an almost unnoticeable bump. “That’s barely a pimple,”  he says, and Lance swirls around and walks back to the mirror, rubbing its surface until it’s clear before continuing to pluck.

“I’ve looked like a goddamn caveman for the past few days, and no one bothered to help me!” Lance cries out in indignation as Shiro turns on his com and says: “I found him, he’s in the communal showers. He’s fine, Keith. Just… grooming.”

Even though Shiro isn’t attracted to Lance’s naked form, he can still aesthetically appreciate the long lines of Lance’s limbs. Keith had been just as skinny as Lance when they took off from Earth – the result of how bad he had been at eating the right stuff in his shack, and all the exercising he did daily to maintain the shack – but he had at least started becoming a little stockier around his thighs, torso and arms. Lance, though, was all lean muscle, broad shoulders and narrow hips.

Shiro crosses his arms, decidedly ignoring Lance’s nudity. “You really gave all of us a scare there, Lance.”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t even bother to be there when I woke up, all alone and confused,” Lance answers in annoyance, but Shiro can tell that there’s some genuine hurt in the statement. Keith has been the Healing Pod Guard™ for so long, it must’ve been weird to wake up alone.

“The aquatic pod glitched and said you'd wake up tomorrow,” Shiro answers with a sigh. “And we had to bring on your message to the head chief.”

Lance shoots him a sullen look over his shoulder, but Shiro already knows he’s been forgiven.

“What did he say?” Lance asks.

“He told us that – “

“Lance!” Keith calls out behind Shiro. “Couldn’t you wait five – “

Keith stops and stares at Lance. Lance looks over his shoulder in surprise, but after a moment he starts to leer and even wiggles his ass as Keith stares in shock.

“Like what you see?” he asks.

Keith starts to blush, and Lance smiles smugly. Cold needles are penetrating the inside of Shiro’s wrists.

“Alright, enough you two,” Shiro says, making sure his voice doesn’t waver. “Lance, finish your plucking and come grab a midnight snack with the rest of us. Keith, go shower and change.  _ Not here _ .”

Keith looks from Lance to Shiro, and looks like he’s going to say something, before he visibly shuts his mouth and walks off.

Shiro sighs. “Take your time, it’s been rough for you,” he says to Lance, and turns around but Lance calls out for him.

Shiro looks over his shoulder. Lance is leaning against the sink now, his hands resting on the edge of it. Shiro is starting to think Lance is enjoying to prance around naked, and that he is looking for a reaction from Shiro.

“About Keith and I,” Lance says, his voice casual but his eyes serious. “I’m open to sharing.”

Shiro blinks. “What?”

Lance smiles sharply. “I know, Shiro.”

Shiro feels like crumpling in on himself. “What do you mean?”

“You’re jealous.”

Eh?

Oh.

_ Oh. _

_ Oh God. _

“Oh,” Shiro says.

Lance’s brows lift in surprise. “Oh?”

Shiro stares blankly at Lance. He doesn’t know what to say.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know?” Lance asks.

Shiro shrugs, feeling uncomfortable. The feeling of ice in his stomach has turned into heat. “I knew,” he said. “I just didn’t understand what it was.”

Lance stares at him. “Shiro. You must be clueless.”

Shiro can’t help but shrug again.

“He likes you too, you know,” Lance says, eyes unblinking and weirdly intense.

Shiro leans up against the wall, closing his eyes as he slides down it. He can hear Lance come closer.

“Are you alright?”  Lance’s voice is unnervingly close.

“Yeah,” Shiro sighs, but he doesn’t feel like talking.

He can feel Lance is still staring at him.

“Could you sing for me?” Shiro asks, before he can stop himself. He knows he shouldn’t ask. Encourage Lance in his singing, that is. It was wrong that Lance hadn’t respected their boundaries, despite how good his intentions were. But right now Shiro just needs pain relief. Just something to dull the intensity of his feelings for a moment.

He hears Lance sit down beside him. “Sure. How do you want to feel?”

Shiro doesn’t know what to answer. Finally he guesses: “Just… just less lonely, I guess.”

He hears Lance’s breath hitch, and he tilts his head and leans it against Lance’s bare shoulder. He wonders if it’s okay. If he can relax. In his training as a leader he was always told to never show exhaustion or strain to his subordinates. But his team has seen him have flashbacks and panic attacks multiple times. He thinks it will be okay. Just this once.

But Lance doesn’t think it’s okay. He moves away, and Shiro’s head falls off his shoulder. Shiro’s stomach turns into a stone, and he thinks he’s going to be sick with the feeling of rejection.

Then two cold hands are on his cheeks, cooling and relaxing and lift this face up. He half-opens his eyes in surprise to see if Lance is going for the eye contact technique. But no. Lance’s eyes are still their familiar dark blue, but the exciting rivers of emotions in his eyes, have turned into a gentle flow. A stream of sweet rinsing.

Shiro doesn’t know what will happen, but his body does, because he closes his eyes anyway, and he can feel Lance softly press his lips against his. They’re still a little dry underneath all the chapstick. The feeling in his stomach is completely foreign and new. Fresh almost . Like something cold and alive is in his stomach. Like a river of fast water finally reaching the ocean.

Lance smells like salt water. Shiro’s shoulders slump, and Lance’s arms come up around his neck, pulling him closer.

Someone clears their throat behind them.

Shiro jumps back and hits his shoulder against the wall as he does so.

To his absolute horror Keith is standing there, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed (the boy is only getting sneakier), looking utterly unimpressed… but otherwise surprisingly unbothered?

“Hey Keith-boy,” Lance says, with a grin. “Sorry, I touched your boy.”

Keith’s brows lift. “We just got together yesterday, and you’re already kissing another person.”

Lance grins sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“I made him,” Shiro says, but both Keith and Lance ignore him.

“What the fuck, Lance,” Keith says.

“Oh come on,” Lance says and rolls his eyes and wow Lance is a freaking asshole, but then Lance says: “You’ve been cheating with Shiro too!”

“What?” Keith exclaims.

“In your head!” Lance shouts back. “Come on, Keith, I’m not stupid.”

Keith’s face reddens. “I said I was over – “

Lance snorts. “Excuse me, if you failed to notice, I’m really not that dumb,” he interrupts. “Besides, I can smell it when you’re attracted to him.” He pokes his nose. “Pheromones. We’re built to sense them to find mating partners. Your game’s up, so stop pretending to be angry with me, when I am, in fact, not only a really handsome, out of your league kinda fella, but also a generous fella that will watch in the corner while you and our beautiful specimen of a leader get it on.”

Shiro feels cold, shaky and kinda confused, but it seems like Keith knows what’s up.

“I was just offering Shiro here to share you with him,” Lance confidently continues. “And I think he might just take me up on the offer.”

“Uhm,” Shiro tries to break in.

“Lance,” Keith hisses, looks quickly at Shiro and then back at Lance.

“What?” Lance asks. “Why not?”

“Why not?” Keith repeats. “Is this a merpeople thing?”

“Uhm, not being greedy is a saintly thing,” Lance counters.

“Monogamy isn’t being greedy,” Shiro gently corrects, accepting that this discussion is mainly between Keith and Lance for now.

“And clearly, you think that way too,” Lance drawls. “Come on, Keith, game’s up. You’re just as attracted to Shiro as you’re enchanted with me.”

Keith’s face somehow becomes an even deeper shade of red, and finally he looks at Shiro. Lance looks at him too. Are they expecting an answer? What was the question?

“Do you like me, Shiro?” Keith finally stutters.

And Shiro is at loss at what to say. He didn’t think he did, but the bone-crushing jealousy indicates it. It’s just weird that he never noticed feeling that way for Keith. He always imagined he would; that genuinely liking someone would be a rush. But the feeling he has now, with both of them looking at him… it’s warm, but safe. It’s natural and confident and radiant. It’s strong. How could it ever have been anything else?

“Yeah,” Shiro slowly answers. “I think… I liked kissing Lance too.”

“How,” Keith asks.

“You kissed me, asshole,” Lance jabs back. “And I felt your dick shift, so – “

“Talking about dicks,” Keith nonchalantly interrupts. “I’m tired of seeing yours. Can you cover up?”

\----

After Lance has covered up, Keith and him drag Shiro to the eating hall, where Allura is impatiently tapping her foot at them. All of the Paladins have changed and showered, and obviously been waiting for a while.

“Hey merman,” Pidge shoots out as a greeting to Lance. Well, that’s a way to break the ice.

“Hey gremlin,” Lance calls back and grins only a little bit nervously as he takes a seat besides Hunk. “So, whassup? Wanna talk about my heroic actions the day you guys came to fuck with Lola?”

“No,” Allura shuts him down.

Lance pouts.

“Allura and Coran just need a thorough explanation, Lance,” Hunk says, his voice calming, and only because of his tone does Shiro notice how much more fidgety Lance’s body language is. “We all do.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Lance says, crosses his arms and leans defensively against the back of his seat. “Blue wasn’t messing around when she picked me. We both belong in the water.”

“Belong,” Allura says, frowning slightly. “Does walking on land hurt or strain you in any way?”

Lance looks puzzled by the genuine questions. “No. We’re made to be in the water. Being on land is onlyforreproducingpurposes.”

“What was that?”

“They reproduce on land,” Pidge says, rolling their eyes.

“Oh,” Allura says. “But you are otherwise comfortable?”

“I’ve walked on land for most of my life,” Lance answers. “Sure, it can sometimes get … itchy.”

“As in?” Coran asks.

Lance shrugs. “Overall the transformation is voluntary. But if it haven’t transformed for at least six months, my body will try to shift. It won’t ever go through, but the fact that the tissue in my skin is always bordering on reforming, will create an itch. And also my…” Lance does a hand wave at his mouth. “I need a gnawing stone.”

“Oh, oh,” Pidge says, their eyes wide. “Your teeth won’t stop growing?”

Lance shakes his head, and bares his teeth. Now that Shiro focuses on them, the corner teeth, which had only seemed slightly fang-ish are definitely sharper now, and his four front teeth have visibly lengthened and thinned. “They will stop growing at some point,” Lance says. “But by then, I won’t be able to chew human food properly.”

“So…” Allura says. “They have a predatory purpose.”

Lance squirms. “Probably? We didn’t have tools for a long time. But look I’m not dangerous or anything.”

“Believe us, we know,” Keith says, and from someone else it might’ve come off harsh. But coming from Keith’s lips, said in that tone, with that fond look in his eyes, it was reassuring without wanting it to be.

Allura clears her throat. “Lance, besides the fact that we clearly need to discuss the rules of your singing towards your teammates, I need to frank with you. Do merpeople eat humans?”

Even Shiro is surprised when Lance stands up, and walks to the other side of the room. “You ate us too,” Lance argues at no one in particular.

“I’m sorry,” Allura says, and Shiro can see she’s acting more like a diplomat than the leader of the Paladins right now. “I didn’t mean to sound accusative.”

“I’m not feeling accused,” Lance shrieks.

“Then why are you all the way over there, my boy?” Coran asks.

“Maybe it’s just more comfortable,” Lance answers.

“For your sensibilities,” Keith mutters.

“Yeah right, mullet!”

“Okay!” Shiro breaks it up. “Lance, if you feel more comfortable over there, you can stay over there as much as you like. We need to get these questions answered. However, this doesn’t change anything for us.”

“Nobody interrogated Keith,” Lance cries out, but even he knows that the argument is futile. Keith had taken so much from his human father, that he hadn’t even known himself. No particular strange urges or physical differences had ever shown in such a degree that he could’ve ever suspected.

“Alright, just calm down for a second,” Hunk says. “Just… deep breath, man. Take your time.”

Lance’s nether lip is trembling slightly, and he takes a deep breath. “If it’s not obvious already, I don’t like talking about this. Do we have to talk about this?”

“Just for a little while more,” Allura says. “It’s better to get it over now than bother you at a later point, is it not?”

Lance nods and finally comes closer to sit at the edge of the table. “Alright. Shoot away.”

“Have you ever tasted human flesh?” Allura asks.

“No,” Lance says, and wiggles his brows. “Only in the fun ways.”

“Do you know how you would react towards eating humans?” Pidge asks.

“How would I react?” Lance asks. “I’m not some sort of vampire. Food is food. Humans can be food. From certain perspectives that, of course, aren’t mine. Look, I love humans. My grandma is human. My best bud is a human. You’re kinda human-ish.” The last sentence is directed to Keith. 

Coran tilts his head. “How about we do a small test?”

“How?” Hunk asks, looking nervous.

“Lance could taste somebody’s blood, seeing it’s easier for access,” Coran suggests. 

The team looks at Lance. Lance pouts. “Fine. But it has to be Shiro’s. From his finger.”

The room groans, except Pidge who whoops: “For science!”

Shiro can feel blood rush into head.

Lance inspects his nails with a small smile. “I mean, Keith is half-Galra, right? And if I have to suck off someone – I mean, suck someone’s blood, it might as well be the more durable one, right?”

“Shiro has a Galra arm that won't come off,” Hunk says. “Who knows how –“

“Of course our brave leader will take one sacrifice for the team!” Lance interrupts. “How noble of you, Shiro!”

Shiro rubs his forehead, but Pidge has already stolen Keith’s knife away from him, and gleefully thrusts it towards Shiro.

“Maybe you should…” Hunk nervously points at his own teeth. “File your teeth, before we do this?”

“Why, it’s not like I’m gonna bite,” Lance leers and very obviously winks at Keith and Shiro. “It’s just a fun little experiment.”

Shiro has a feeling that if this had ever been an experiment, Lance has definitely made it into something entirely else. But he sighs and takes the knife, which Pidge is insistently waving at his face. It couldn’t hurt.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Hunk says. “If it’s for a meal – “

“Ew,” Keith comments.

“- then I want to do it,” Hunk continues. Shiro allows a groan, before reaching out his hand. Hunk’s tongue sticks out at the corner of his mouth, as he carefully pricks Shiro in the pad of his thumb. His movement is quick and precise.

Shiro feels his face flush again as Lance eagerly moves closer.

“Shouldn’t you mind this?” Pidge asks Keith, almost as an afterthought.

Keith  _ shushes _ her, and Hunk giggles awkwardly as Lance’s grabs Shiro’s hand with both of his. His hands are cool and slim compared to Shiro’s, miraculously free of calluses even with all of his training.

Slowly Lance moves Shiro’s hand closer, and Shiro kind of feels like screaming into a pillow in embarrassment at the whole situation. He looks away and almost flinches when he feels the soft, wet pressure of lips around his thumb. They close around it, firmly, and the tip of Lance’s tongue urge forwards, and slide over the hole in his finger. Shiro turns his head and looks at Lance. Lance’s eyes are half-closed as he suckles gently, his tongue flickering over the wound. Hunk looks ready to explode, Pidge is glaring at the wall like they were seriously regretting this, and Coran and Allura look politely curious, obviously not yet having caught up on what this experiment was really about. But Keith’s eyes are huge and round, his pupils dilated, and soft shades of rose are dusted onto the tip of his nose and his cheeks.

Shiro bites his lip. The sensation is surprisingly pleasant. Almost a tingle. Keith bites at his thumb. Coran and Allura are obviously wondering what’s taking so long.

Lance pulls off with a soft ‘pop’ which makes both Pidge and Hunk cringe. Keith looks like he’s waking up from a daze. Coran and Allura are looking around, clearly trying to find out what’s going on. Shiro kind of wants to die, but not really, because he also wants to try that again.

“Do you feel anything?” Allura asks.

Lance smacks his lips, before looking unsure now that he actually has to focus on his task: “Hm. It is a bit tingly on the tongue? The taste probably wouldn’t be appealing, if it wasn’t because –”

“So the taste isn’t appealing in itself,” Pidge thankfully interrupts.

Lance scratches his hair. “But the fact that it’s Shiro’s might…“ He starts giggling. He giggles. And he giggles. And then it won’t seem to stop.

\----

“Consuming humans make them  _ high _ ?” Keith exclaims.

Coran frowns at the term, but nods as he looks up from the biological readings of Lance’s brain. “Yes, it appears so. Shiro’s blood was only a slight dosage, even. It could be argued that because Lance hasn’t consumed it before, he’s highly sensitive to its effects, but so far it’s harmless.”

“Oh my god,” Keith groans.

“Will he be alright?” Shiro asks.

“It just needs to get through his system,” Coran says. “If you can come back in an hour and take him to his room, that would be grand.”

Shiro nods, and feels a tug at his sleeve. He looks down. Keith’s lids are lowered, and he’s blushing slightly as he looks down, and tugs at Shiro’s sleeve again. Shiro complies. His feet feel light and almost floating as they leave the infirmary, leaving Lance to continuously laugh at everything Coran says. Before Shiro has time to say something, Keith roughly pushes Shiro into the nearest wall. Shiro gasps, but Keith only stands closer, and presses his face against Shiro’s collarbone, his hands lightly grasping at Shiro’s shirt.

“Is this okay?” Keith asks, his voice muffled.

“Yeah,” Shiro sighs, entranced by the closeness of their bodies.

Keith tsks, before shaking his head. “I can’t believe Lance actually got to kiss you twice before –“ he interrupts his own sentence by standing on his toes, and kissing Shiro’s mouth. Shiro isn’t surprised by it, and yet it’s difficult for him to reciprocate properly.

Keith is, for once, patient. He takes hold of Shiro’s hands, clenches them, and as Shiro relaxes into the kiss, Keith pulls Shiro closer, locks Shiro’s hands around his waist and makes Shiro lower his head. Heat rushes from Keith’s lips, and makes Shiro’s own burn, and it’s almost a relief when Keith opens his mouth, and slides his tongue over Shiro’s lower lip. Shiro opens his lips in an astonished inhale, and Keith dips the tip of his tongue inside, touches Shiro’s own tongue and locks his lips properly with Shiro’s. Keith’s arms come around Shiro’s neck, pulling them closer, and Shiro can feel Keith’s heartbeat against his chest. The world disappears. The warmth of the sun is blissfully breathing and throbbing in Shiro’s stomach, a pleasant tingle at his lower back, a feeling that makes his toes curl.

How could Shiro have ever not realized that he was crazy about him?


	8. Calm under the waves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “His kind seems to be social and stay in packs,” he says instead of answering. “He must’ve felt lonely swimming mostly alone for all of these years.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the beautiful Ashacrone, for saving my ass once again. She is going to enter Voltron Big Bang, so updates are gonna be a bit slower on this fic. But go ahead and read the fic she's going to enter, I'm sure she's up to something good

Shiro isn’t completely sure how it happens, but somehow Keith moves Shiro into Keith’s room. When Shiro says “moves”, he literally means “moves”. They’re on the wall, and then Keith is tugging and kissing him again and tugging and suddenly Keith opens the door to his room, and Shiro is pushed inside its dimly illuminated smallness.

It’s cool in there, but Keith’s hands are warm and guiding and even though a small voice in the back of Shiro’s head says that they should stay clear of the bed, he ends up on his back on it anyway.

“Is it okay if I…” Keith mumbles, and then continues to drape himself over Shiro’s body.

But for once Shiro feels no need to perform. ‘Perform’ is probably a strong word to use, but really, sometimes that’s how he feels. Like he suddenly has to act aggressive. Be something he isn’t. It’s not that Shiro doesn’t think himself a passionate lover; he’s just not so much for feeling like he has to be in control in the bedroom.

But the tips of Keith’s fingers are gentle like petals on Shiro’s skin. Shiro has never been so relaxed, so calm in his life. Keith’s hair feels like feathers on his neck, as he presses his lips against the side of Shiro’s mouth. Shiro can hear the thump of a heartbeat, but he’s not sure whose it is. The night is silent, yet soft around them. A whisper would feel loud. But both of them are breathing calmly. Shiro feels the edge of Keith’s fingernails on the inside of his arms, as they stroke down them. Shiro’s neck and collarbone tickle with the feeling of Keith’s breath against him. A feeling of contentment fills Shiro’s stomach, and then Keith’s lips are on his again. Contentment turns into excitement in the blink of an eye; like suddenly getting blinded by the sunrise. Still, Shiro’s thoughts are unfocused, at ease, fluttering in the air like down feathers.

The mood grows heavier, as Keith’s hands become more confident. Shiro’s breathing is quickening. Even though they’re already touching each other, it feels like they somehow come closer. Keith is reaching for something. Shiro doesn’t know what it is, but like in a dream he feels like he is giving it to him. The exchange is quick.

Keith’s nearness becomes darkness, that presses and tightens around Shiro like a hot summer night, like a thick duvet in the winter, and he is growing hotter as they kiss, the excitement turning into weak arousal. The pressure of Keith grows stronger, until Shiro gasps with it. Keith bites the Shiro’s ear lobe. Shiro’s lips are tingling. He doesn’t remember when Keith let go of them, and his body started arching, desperately trying to come closer. Shiro’s spine has actual been metal for all of this time; and now he feels Keith warm him up, until his body is red hot and soft and flexible, like never before.

Keith’s bites the side of Shiro’s neck. His fingers glide over Shiro’s lips, and Shiro opens his mouth. Without prompting Keith’s fingers slide inside, his index and middle finger curling and pressing down on his tongue. Shiro’s feels a drop of sweat make way down to his bellybutton. His stomach tightens, his legs moving further apart. Shiro feels the touches all the way down to his thighs, for some reason, as goosebumps break out on his body. Keith is reaching for something, or rather, Keith is unlocking something Shiro never even knew had been shut away in the first place. Heat crawls up like a spider over the curves of Shiro’s hip bones, on the inside of his thighs, right on top of his chest bone. It feels so scorching it could almost be a cold shock.

Shiro moans.

Time goes backwards. Keith is giving it back. He closes the doors behind him, as his kisses become less hectic, less craving. He locks all the doors after him. But Shiro feels changed. His lips are engraved with the shape of Keith’s gentleness.

\-----

As soon as they get back to the infirmary, Lance’s nose wrinkles and he looks up at them. His shirt is gone, and he’s wearing shorts, but it looks like he’s not laughing at everything anymore. He sits up, and sends the two of them a grin, which tells them that he knows exactly what they’ve been up to.

“He’s free to go,” Coran tells the red and black Paladin. “The effect was surprisingly quick to come and quick to leave. He should be as spry as a tadpole!”

Lance immediately groans, as if Coran said something really embarrassing.

“Thanks, Coran,” he says anyway with a smile, as he jumps down from the table and takes his shirt, and starts to leave the infirmary. “I guess it’s time to head to bed and – “

“Keep that shirt off,” Keith interrupts.

Both Lance and Shiro look at Keith in surprise, who shrugs unashamedly.

They walk in comfortable silence (mostly due to Lance being too tired to fill in the silence, honestly) and end up at Keith’s room. Shiro is already growing uneasy, not really knowing if he could… maybe he should …

Keith steps forwards, drapes his arms around Shiro’s neck, and kisses him on his open lips. Shiro blinks in surprise, but can’t help but smile as Keith presses another kiss into the corner of his mouth.

Keith steps back and turns to Lance. Their kiss is much less a transaction of reassurance and love, and much more… well.

Keith and Lance.

A little competitive, and almost unaware of how quick they are to be absorbed in each other. Their kiss is a tidal bore, and the smell of smoke. Shiro watches how their lips open wider, and their tongues are so much quicker to engage than in the kisses they’ve had with him. Keith’s hands are on Lance’s neck, like a weight, and they nudge closer without seeming to notice.

Finally they seem to pull loose, their eyes intense and more awake as they meet each other’s glance. Then they both turn and look at Shiro at the same time. Shiro smiles at them, and they smile back.

\-----

The next day, Allura lets them sleep in.

For the most part, her training regimen was reasonable (in Shiro’s eyes. Lance and Pidge disagreed). But sometimes it becomes painfully obvious how much more… tough-skinned Alteans might have been. For a peaceful people, they often used violence or “physical memory” as she called it, as a way to learn new things. Granted, Alteans were like that from the day they were born, quicker to talk and make sense of the world, and had much finer motor skill than human babies.

Allura had been confused in the beginning, when her near constant keeping them on their toes technique had only made them wearier instead of stronger. They had only grown more exhausted, confused and had a worse memory. She had asked Shiro about it, because she had been bothered that the result were growing worse and not better with. Shiro had noticed his team worsening, but had been mostly fine because her training regimen was still much better than being in the arena. So she asked why were the Paladins not keeping up with their training? Easy to answer. Humans need a lot of sleep. What happens if you don’t get sleep? Our brains don’t function as well. And what will happen to the brain? Well, you might get exhausted or sad or miserable. So what? What happens then? Well, it’s not good for humans to be sad for too long. Why?

Because they might kill themselves.

She had been absolutely horrified when she found out, that humans were even able to do that, and after that she had started letting them take vacations now and then, let them sleep in after a long day.

That means, of course, that after she had done the countdown and was sure the Paladins had gotten their 8 hours, of course she  _ had _ to wake them up with the horns at full blast, all of the rooms being lit up like blazing afternoon suns, and Allura’s jolly voice in the speakers: “Paladins, you have rested, and now it is time for your training! But, in light of recent events, we’re going to be training on the beach today. Meet you all there in fifteen minutes!”

\----

When Shiro shows up outside the castle, he realizes he feels… unfocused. Kinda rumpled, almost. Like he’s still dozing comfortably in bed. He’s forgotten how it feels to be… sleepy.

Allura gives them all sharp glances, before landing her eyes on Lance, who shows up last, yawning.

“Late as always,” Allura sighs. “Did you stay up to sing to the team?”

Lance noticeably freezes up. “What?”

“We saw the footage, fishie stick,” Pidge says.

“That’s not cool, man,” Hunk adds .

Lance rubs his face and looks at Hunk with a genuinely sorry face. “Alright, I only did it with you once, and that was on accident. Sorry, bro.” But then he shrugs. “The rest of you are wrecks. I’m not sorry at all. You people will run yourself to the edge and throw yourself over , if I didn’t stop you.”

“Well, before you couldn’t ask for permission, because it would reveal your heritage,” Allura says, and continues sternly: “But I expect you to ask your Paladins for permission from now on.”

“Yeah, sure,” Lance says, as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Alright.” She claps her hands together. “Today, we’re gonna do a fun exercise! All of you are going to drown, and we’re going to see how fast Lance can save you!”

Shiro doesn’t know what he expected.

\----

While Lance nervously goes out to the water to transform, Allura and Coran test each Paladin to see approximately how long each could hold their breath. When that has been settled, they launch one of the Castle’s boats, which has the size of a sailboat but has a motor instead of sails.

Lance is following them underneath the water, his scales reflecting the light underneath the water, his tail swimming fast to keep up. Once they’ve reached their goal, and Allura turns off the engine, he swims closer to them. She waits impatiently as Lance comes close, but stays right underneath the surface. As soon as she comes closer, he shoots up and sprays water out of his mouth and directly into her face.

“Lance!” she reprimands, drying the water away as he laughs, throwing himself back into the water, arms behind his head and his tail lazily pushing him over the surface. “This is not time for jokes and playing around!”

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Lance says, and giggles.

“There will be times for jokes later,” she says and turns around, earning her another spray of water in the back of her head.

But she can’t really shout at him. Lance looks more happy and healthy than he has been for a long time, and his good mood is infectious.

“Now, we will bind a rock to each of the Paladin’s ankles, to make sure they will sink,” Allura explains. “Of course, the Paladins will stay in their armors for now, but we might start to practice without, once I feel secure in your abilities. Each Paladin has to be up at the surface, before their time is out and they can’t help you; they have to pretend that they’re unconscious. For now you should focus on using your final breath to achieve this. Understood?”

Lance sighs. “No pressure,” he says with a whimper.

“Nervous?” Keith smugly asks.

“No!” Lance immediately protests and snaps his fingers at Keith. “I will be enjoying treating you as a damsel in distress!”

“Tired of always acting that role?” Pidge asks.

“Rude,” Lance scoffs. “Anyways, there’s no way I can’t do this!”

He obviously loses confidence, when he sees the size of the rocks. Lance is a fast swimmer; he kept up with the motor on the boat, which had been going around 40 miles per hour. But it was four people, and while Hunk could hold his breath for three minutes and Shiro could hold them for two, Keith and Pidge could barely hold theirs for a minute.

The Paladins get seated at the edge, each of them with their rock in their hand and helmets on. Lance is watching them, obviously fidgeting as Allura makes a countdown.

As soon as she gets to 5, Shiro and the Paladins throw themselves into the water. Immediately he is pulled down under. The time is flashing on the inside of his helmet, and he sees Lance swim down to Hunk, pulls off his helmet and kiss him, Hunk smiling sweetly. He immediately swims up to the surface, inhales, and swims down again, this time for Pidge, who makes a grimace. But Keith’s time is already up, and as soon as they’re all at the surface, Allura shouts: “Two of your friends are  _ dead _ because of you.”

They go through the results. Lance wanted to save Hunk first because he’d sink faster than the others and would take longer to rescue, Pidge the second because she was the worse at swimming and at holding her breath. Keith and Shiro had higher stamina, and Keith, who was lighter, would be closer to the surface and a kiss.

“Alright, let’s try this again!” she says.

Lance does an evidently better job this time, using the same strategy but swimming faster, having time to kiss Keith too, but Shiro is heavier than he looks so by the time Lance has gotten to him, he’s deep in the water and the time is up. They change strategy again and again, and Lance is starting to wither from the shortcomings of his efforts, until Allura shifts the focus of the exercises to teamwork. This time they are allowed to cooperate and help Lance, though they’re limited by what they can do with the stones still attached to their feet, but the exercise becomes a lot easier after that, and Pidge only pretends to gag about being kissed by Lance for five minutes or so. By the time they take a break, a small crowd of Birkneans have drifted close by, curiously watching the team’s training. Throughout the Paladins’ stay, the Birkneans, outside negotiation and information transfer, have had as little contact with them as possible, so it’s curious to see them close of their own free will.

While they’re on break, it becomes evident why. It’s the first time they’ve seen Lance in this form. Like jellyfish, the Birkneans are very slow, and they’re fascinated with Lance’s tail, and the strength and speed it gives him. Clearly feeling flattered and joyous with all of the attention, he lets them touch his tail, their white fingers glancing down the mail like texture and pattern of his scales. Shiro sees all of this through the water, the sunlight and clarity of the water making the scene easy to watch. Keith leans up against Shiro, their hands touching slightly. The team has taken off their armor, and Keith is wearing swimming trunks and the tops of his shoulders are getting sunburned. Shiro, feeling more hesitant to bare it all, wears a black T-shirt. He imagines the teasing he will receive when the team sees his tan lines. Despite the fact that he’s paler than anyone on the team, he has always tanned pretty easily, rarely ever got burned, to Keith’s great irritation. Keith got burned fairly quickly, and that’s why he always covered his body up almost entirely, despite living in a hot desert. Shiro reminds himself to make Coran produce some sun protection, as he looks at Pidge, who has found a hat from somewhere, and is covered from head to toe. If the older man could whip up cleanser, toner, moisturizer, lotion AND shampoo and conditioner for Lance, he could surely do it. 

The thought makes Shiro blink back to reality. The Birkneans are mostly touching his hair now, Lance’s tail fin on display. Where the sharks have bitten Lance and where the healing pod has regenerated the flesh, the scales are a lot paler in comparison to the rest of his tail. He didn’t notice before, but the pale scales and their disharmony with the pattern of the rest of the tail, look too much like a scar. Shiro uneasily twitches, which makes Keith look at him. He wonders if Lance minds. Lance volunteered to be an astronaut, not a soldier. Shiro doubts that Lance likes the growing number of scars on his body. All of them had scars, of course, and a lot of them, but none of them cared as much about their appearance as Lance.

“Look who’s getting cozy,” Lance comments once the Birkneans have let him go. He swims over to Shiro and Keith, and puts his wet fanned fingers on their knees, resting his chin on Keith’s as he looks up at them. “Shiro, I think you should stay in the boat when we’re not training.”

“Why?” Shiro asks, as he gently picks the bones away from the fish he’s eating. Lance opens his mouth like a small baby bird, and Shiro cracks a smile, before feeding it to him. Keith rolls his eyes but the next person Lance opens his mouth to is him. The teeth have in fact seemed to grow sharper and longer overnight, and Lance carefully chews the cooked pieces.

“Today is like the third time you could have drowned,” Lance casually answers.

“And all of them was because of you,” Keith comments.

Lance splashes water at Keith, and sticks his nose into the air. “If someone’s a damsel in distress, it’s you,” Lance nonchalantly continues telling Shiro. “You’re a cute damsel in distress though,” he quickly compliments,and winks.

‘Cute’ isn’t the word other people or Shiro use to describe himself but he will take it.

Suddenly Lance seems to remember something and he goes “Oh, uh, uh, Princess! Can I go the Castle real quick?”

“Is it important?” she asks, sending him a look over her shoulder.

“Yes, very.” Lance seriously nods.

“Well then, go,” she sighs, and Lance kisses Keith’s knee and sends Shiro another wink, before diving into the water.

Ten minutes later, Lance comes swimming back with a large wooden plank. It’s a little rough on the edges, but he still proudly presents it to Hunk, who looks at the board in astonishment and goes: “How long have you been holding onto this?”

Lance just grins. “For a while. Come on, get on board!”

The merman holds the surfboard still, as Hunk confidently boards it. He sits down, his legs on each side of the board, and sways slightly to estimate the balance of it. It’s only the ends of the surfboard, which haven’t been polished enough. Hunk tests its sides from sharp edges, before seemingly approving. “It’s freaking awesome!” he exclaims, his cheeks and forehead already noticeably darker in the sun, now that Shiro looks at him.

“Really?” Lance exclaims as he swims in excited circles around the board. “I’ve worked on it since Thu! A little something for my favorite bro.”

“I love you, bro,” Hunk happily replies, and pulls Lance into a hug. Lance is noticeably startled, since Hunk doesn’t tip over as he half-lifts Lance’s form out of the water to pull him close. Then he grins, and pulls Hunk directly into the water. Without the armor, Hunk seems more at ease and confident in the water. He doesn’t as much as flail as he treads water, his sturdy body natural, weightless and at ease. Lance grabs him underneath the armpits and quickly pulls him up to the surface. Hunk gasps, and Lance throws his arms around Hunk’s neck and clicks. It startles all of them, and Lance reddens with embarrassment, but Hunk only laughs and the clicks settle into small, soft, quick clicks, almost like a purr. Pidge is distracting Allura from the end of their break, and so Hunk and Lance predictably take the board and swim away from the boat. There aren’t a lot of waves where they are, so Hunk mostly just lets Lance swim him around.  It isn’t long before they have somehow gotten ahold of some rope, which Hunk holds on to, and Lance pulls from underneath the water. He’s swimming around 25 miles per hour, his tail a quick flicker and Hunk screams in part terror, part glee as he is pulled around. It’s not long before the Birkneans are again coming, wanting a turn. They keep sliding off the surfboard though, so it ends up with them grabbing directly onto the rope instead. Lance is gesturing at them, before he makes finger guns and shoots forward in the water, much quicker than before, with the Birkneans dangling and swinging like lights on a chain outside in the wind. It seems like they’re holding on though, so they must be having fun.

“Are everybody ready to continue?” Allura asks. Hunk groans. Keith doesn’t moan, but the fact that he doesn’t answer is an answer enough. Pidge, who has somehow snuck equipment with her and seems to be testing the water, looks up in disappointment.

Allura frowns in confusion with the lack of reply. Even Shiro can’t get himself to be up for more training.

“His kind seems to be social and stay in packs,” he says instead of answering. “He must’ve felt lonely swimming mostly alone for all of these years.”

Allura seems to know where he’s going, because she immediately nods. “We must establish a firm connection to him in this form then,” she agrees. “The rest of the day shall be spent on bonding.”

Bonding is, according to Coran and Allura, very important and will strengthen Voltron, but to the Paladins, she might as well have told them to relax and have fun.

Lance swims around with the Birkneans for a while more, before he seems to excuse himself, probably remembering the time, and swims up to the surface.

“Are we done?” he asks, after taking a deep hoarse inhalation.

When Allura nods, he seems to lighten up in slight surprise.

Then his grin gets mischievous, before his face settles in a solemn expression. “Princess?” he asks. “Wasn’t this day supposed to be about teamwork in the water?”

Allura looks at him. “Yes?”

He swims forwards, and grabs the side of the boat with his hands. “But you and Coran haven’t been in the water at all?”

Allura frowns. “That is true.”

When Lance’s mask starts to crack, she rolls his eyes. “You just want to kiss me.”

Lance laughs, and puckers his lips at her. “For Voltron! Ow.”

Keith has casually kicked Lance in the side.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we're nearing towards the end, and I have a Back to Earth!sequel in mind.   
> Comment if you'd be interested in reading it, or well, it's not gonna be written and we'll end it on this fic, which wouldn't be bad at all either. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, all of you are adorable and super nice! On that same note, be aware that constructive criticism is welcome as well ^^


	9. Finally. I'm free

Besides being receptive towards other people’s attractiveness, Shiro is actually incredibly sensitive. Not only after he landed in the Arena and lost his arm and his body was covered with over-sensitive scar tissue, but also before. He was sensitive to temperature changes; Cataleya, his girlfriend in his senior year of Garrison, used to tease him because “he was like a girl”, always complaining about being either too hot or too cold. Which he objected to, and she agreed, saying that he didn’t outright complain, but she had never seen someone pull their sweater on and off so many times in an hour.

While Shiro saw himself as a sex-positive ace, sometimes he felt that the stimulation of sex could become too much, and make him feel like he’s crawling out of his skin. It’s been two years since Kerberos; two years since his skin had been subjected to anything but pats, the clinging feeling of cloth, pain, and a hug now and then. He knows that the loneliness of his skin, the way it so easily crumples with pleasure every time someone as much as slid their hand gently over the right place, won’t make transitioning into a life with regular sex easy.

It’s not like he tries to avoid the situations that might lead up to it, except that’s exactly what he does. He knows that he has gone way too far with Lance and Keith to ever refer to them as subordinates or even friends. He views them as his equals, both worthy and responsible enough to be his partners.

So why does the thought of Keith and Lance realizing how easily he comes apart make him nervous?

He tells himself that it will happen when it happens, though all of them have wordlessly settled with cuddling and kissing. They’re buttering him up, Shiro suspects, taking their time. It’s really sensible of them that they don’t push. They don’t even mention it. They could easily have sex with each other, but Shiro has a feeling that if they did, they know he would start feeling left behind. Not jealous or annoyed, but like he’s not on the same page as them.

But they don’t. And Shiro starts to relax. They establish a habit. They wake up, train, eat breakfast. Allura has regular meetings with the chief now, and Hunk has gotten the okay to go ahead and renovate the pipes with the Birkneans, Pidge coming along to help him. On those days, the three of them have the afternoon to themselves. If Allura is there, she’ll most likely force them to go out to the water and push them into teamwork exercises. Lance improves; he can now save all of them about fifty percent of the time. And in the beginning of the evening they’ll shower, and probably sit on the beach, Hunk fishing and Lance helping him, and Pidge will go to their cool workshop to relieve themselves from the hot outside. While Lance and Hunk surf, and catch fish together, Keith and Shiro will train in the sand. When Hunk goes inside to prepare for dinner, Lance will make Shiro and Keith sit down and they’ll just … talk. Chill, as Lance calls it. Look at the sunset, and maybe cuddle a little bit. Then they’ll eat Hunk’s catch, and ... and Shiro will try not to be alone in a room with them, to be honest. If Lance or Keith notices, none of them comments on it.

But 14 days after they’ve gotten permission to improve the BirkShield blueprints, Keith and Lance end up Shiro’s room. 

Shiro tries not to be nervous about it, but Keith immediately settles down on the sole chair in the room, and Lance walks to Shiro’s closet, examining the few clothes that aren’t Paladin-related but souvenirs. The obvious display of giving him space makes Shiro remember that Keith and Lance don’t just want to get in his pants. They just want to spend time with him.

So Shiro tries to become less tense. At some point Lance settles to sit cross-legged on the floor.

“No, I’m serious, it was terrifying,” Lance says, and Keith’s cheeks are red with laughter. “I seriously thought Hunk would throw himself out of the window. I’m never singing in the shower ever again.”

Shiro can’t help but chuckle. All the stories Lance has told about nearly being busted are usually hilarious, because Lance, as smooth at lying as he has gotten, first response to such situations are usually panic and that always ended in some form of catastrophe. Add in Lance’s Bollywood-narrative style and it’s always amusing to listen to.

But Lance keeps moving uncomfortably on the floor; obviously the cold metal floor is getting to him, so Shiro pats his bed and says: “Come up here.”

Shiro doesn’t miss the quick glance Lance shoots Keith, but he happily exclaims: “If you insist!” and jumps onto the bed. He groans and sprawls out his long limbs.

“Hey, I was wondering,” Lance starts, and goes to put his hand on top of Shiro’s, his face inquisitive. “When we get back to Earth, will you two come greet my family?”

The question shouldn’t take Shiro by surprise, but somehow it does. They know that in a few weeks’ time, Hunk will have finished polishing the BirkShields. Allura and Coran have taken it upon themselves to spread the technology; the Paladins, though, won’t be needed for that. So they decided to take the time to visit their families. 

It had gone without question that the visit would only last a week. None of them hated being in space; after all that’s what they had all been in the Garrison for. They just needed to go and reassure their families, and also make sure that their families didn’t tell any of their governments what the Paladins have been doing.

Shiro has thought about seeing his mother again, but only fleetingly, becoming too emotional when he thinks too much about it. He hasn’t seen her face to face since the May, 7 months before Kerberos. Lance has talked about his reunion plenty, full of joy. Allura and Shiro privately thought that his homesickness wouldn’t weigh him down as often as it did, if he made peace with his family before he left again. Hunk had started to openly reminisce about his three brothers and mother more often now, and mostly been preparing by making a list of nonperishable food to bring to the Castle. Allura and Coran had convinced Keith to take them to go sightseeing in Paris for a day, but otherwise Keith didn’t intend to linger and wanted to go along with Allura and Coran, make sure that they would be alright while spreading the BirkShields to other vulnerable planets. Seeing as Zarkon’s colonies were already being overthrown because the Galra were too busy fighting for his crown, Shiro doubted that Allura and Coran’s lives were in that much jeopardy. He had offered Keith to come home with him but Keith had declined. Lance hadn’t offered to take Keith home with him, wanting to calm his family down and clue them in, but he had invited Keith to visit after. Keith had said he would consider it.

Now the invitation has also been extended to Shiro, apparently.

“Is it about your… thing?” Keith asks.

“No,” Lance immediately replies. “Maybe? I don’t know. I mean, we’re dating, right? And you know about the thing. It’s kind of a big deal in my family.”

Shiro tilts his head.

Lance looks at them and starts to blush. “B-but like I completely understand it if you can’t. I mean, you want to spend all the time you can with your mom, right, Shiro? And if you come, my family will probably start arranging the wedding and everything.”

“Wedding?” Keith repeats, his eyes wide.

Lance gets even more flustered. “Nothing. Nothing.”

Shiro can’t help but chuckle, though the speed of Lance’s family does make him a little nervous. Keith giggles, and goes to sit besides them, his hand laying itself on Lance’s head.

“Actually, I think it’s better for you not to come, they’ll totally embarrass me,” Lance groans, and curls an arm around Keith’s waist.

“Well, I’ll definitely have to come then,” Keith teases, stroking Lance’s hair.

“I can’t see the harm either,” Shiro pleasantly replies. “If Allura picks me up and then Hunk, she can drop me off at your place, and go get Pidge in the meanwhile.”

Lance looks up at them, his eyes brightening up with joy. “Really?” he asks.

“Sure, it’ll only be a day.” Shiro can’t help but smile and Lance sits up. He cups Shiro’s jaw and leans in and places a soft kiss on Shiro’s mouth. Shiro can’t help but smile into the kiss, and Lance pulls back to press his forehead against Shiro’s, giggling.

“Maybe Mama can get you to get a haircut,” Lance says to Keith as he turns.

Keith is wearing a content smile, his arms gamely crossed. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

“Mama is a force to be reckoned with,” Lance says, leaning towards Keith.

“Oh yeah?” Keith says perhaps a little hoarsely as Lance leans nearer.

“Yeah,” Lance whispers and kisses Keith. Keith huffs, and tilts his head to get a better angle. Shiro feels warmth in his belly.

“I see where you get it from,” Keith mumbles when he pulls back, and leans in to settle his lips against Lance’s cheek. Lance smiles as Keith moves to kiss his neck, and puts his hand on Keith’s neck. Shiro watches them with growing interest, the warmth in his belly becoming a little more heated. Keith pulls back to kiss Lance again, and this time the kiss is longer, a little sharp with desire.

Shiro sees the moment their mouths open wider, and their tongues start to meet. Blood rushes into Shiro’s head as Lance’s hand settles on Keith’s thigh, and their kiss becomes a little more aggressive, heats up with intention.

Shiro feels so caught up in the sight it’s almost a surprise when they stop and turn to look at him. He feels his cheeks redden with the attention.

“Hey,” Keith says, his voice so soft.

“Hey,” Shiro answers, his voice just as low and husky.

“Can we come a little closer?” Keith asks.

Shiro looks at his hand on the bed. The heat is still turning in his stomach, and he’s starting to become nervous, but he says: “Sure.”

Like they were approaching a wounded animal they crawl closer, Lance going to Shiro’s other side. Keith is the first one to lean in, and pull Shiro into a kiss. His warm hand settles on top of Shiro’s neck, its weight light, yet reassuring. Keith’s lips are hot and already wet, bringing Shiro the passion of Lance’s lips, and Shiro feels almost out of breath as it easily swallows him up. Keith’s hand slides down his neck, his biceps and stop on his hipbone.

It’s silent, cozy and dark in the room. Safe. Maybe that’s why Shiro falls into the kiss so easily, his hectic stream of thoughts gradually slowing as Keith leans in harder, his lips growing bolder, his passion surrounding Shiro like a heat wave. Then he feels a hot breath against his neck, and a narrower, longer hand lays itself on Shiro’s side. It’s notably cooler than Keith’s. Soft lips press into Shiro’s neck, and Shiro feels shivers breeze down his back, warm goose bumps left in their wake. Keith’s hand becomes tighter as he notices that Shiro is getting distracted, and the kiss starts to ease off a little, until Keith’s lips eventually move down to press against the sensitive skin behind Shiro’s ear. Shiro starts to shake even harder. Lance cups Shiro’s chin, turns Shiro’s face around, and greets him with a kiss. A hand, probably Keith’s, moves lower, but Lance’s kiss is more like a cool wave, refreshing and renewing, soothing and safe all at once. Shiro feels calmer, less like he’s burning up, and maybe that’s why he doesn’t flinch when Keith’s hand slips down under his shirt.

He even reaches out a hand, and puts it on Keith’s shoulder, drawing him nearer. Keith nips at Shiro’s collarbone in return, making Shiro’s heart beat harder.

Lance’s hand slides underneath Shiro’s shirt too. Shiro quivers, and Keith stops kissing him, whispers: “Can I take your shirt off?”

Shiro considers for a moment. He’s not sure he feels comfortable taking it off. It’s not that he didn’t want to… to bare himself. He’s just… his chest isn’t as…  _ his body  _ isn’t what it used to be.

“You can put it on anytime you want,” Lance reminds him, a lilt in his voice.

Shiro looks back at him, and their hands are starting to pull away, when he lets go of Keith. They make room when they see him grab the collar of his shirt, and he slowly pulls it off. They look at his torso with dark eyes, and Lance is the first one to lean back in, this time against Shiro’s bulging shoulder.

And talking about bulge... His cock is starting to take interest. Keith kisses his mouth, and like before, it’s all consuming and hot, and then Lance is kissing him and it’s soothing and comfortable and Shiro already knew he was sensitive, so he shouldn’t be so surprised with the dizziness he feels  with from the way they crave his lips, how Shiro doesn’t know whose hands are where on his body anymore, always sliding, always caressing, examining. Keith’s mouth slides below his collarbone, licking and sucking, until it lands on a nipple.

Shiro’s moan sounds loud in the room. His hand becomes a fist on Keith’s shoulder, ready to grab, but Keith is gentle as he sucks. Shiro looks down, and Keith’s eyes are closed. He looks peaceful as he plays with the nipple with his tongue. His lips curl in the most beautiful way, and his hands reach up to slide his palm over the tip of Shiro’s other nipple. The second moan is louder, and Shiro flinches with the sensations setting off the rest of his body, making his fingers clumsy, the end of his spine tickle, his knees weak. He is breathing quicker, and Lance is licking his earlobe, his nails feeling like claws around Shiro’s neck.

Keith slides even lower, his fingers tugging at Shiro’s waistband. He looks up at Shiro, his nose buried in Shiro’s happy trail. Keith licks his lips and Shiro can feel it, head falling backwards. Keith’s fingers grabs the waistband of Shiro’s pants, and pulls them down and Shiro feels like he’s in another world, because he’s lifting his hips, helping him. Lance whispers, “Can we…?”, his fingers on the band of Shiro’s boxers. Shiro swallows and nods. Lance pulls them off too.

Then hands are gently moving him, until he’s on his fours. He’s breathing quickly and his skin is burning. Heat has turned into arousal, and he wants, wants to be touched so bad.

“I want to lick you,” Keith whispers. “Can I?”

Shiro nods, and Keith, who’s sitting behind Shiro, presses his face against the small of Shiro’s back, and presses an open-mouthed kiss in the hollow of it, right over Shiro’s ass cheeks. Then Keith’s hands are firmly grabbing Shiro’s cheeks. Lance, who ended up lying underneath Shiro, strokes Shiro’s back as Shiro tenses and waits.

Keith spreads Shiro’s cheeks apart, and Shiro feels the tip of a tongue on his perineum. It’s so wet and hot and soft, and Shiro’s back arches as he startles with the sensation.

“Are you okay?” Lance asks, stroking Shiro’s cheek.

Shiro nods.

“Yeah?” Lance asks, and sits up on his elbows to kiss Shiro. Shiro can’t focus on it though, because Keith’s tongue laps over his hole, giving it a firm lick. Shiro’s head falls to the side, and Lance’s hands reach up and rub thumbs against Shiro’s hipbones, before firmly holding on to Shiro’s hips, holding him tight. Keith sees it as his cue to press his whole mouth against Shiro, thrusting his tongue against Shiro’s hole until it starts to give, and Shiro moans louder, before attempting to press his face into the pillows. Lance doesn’t want any of that though, pulling Shiro’s face up, and stroking Shiro’s lower lip with his wet thumb. Keith only licks, sucks and laps harder, and it feels like being teased in the most satisfying way. Like scratching a tickle, but just not quite enough. The sensation feels like being stroked with a feather; it leaves him feeling wrecked, sending waves of pleasure through Shiro’s whole body, despite the touch being light.

Lance starts to slide down Shiro’s body too, his mouth and teeth closing around a nipple, biting and suckling all at once and Shiro cries out, wanting more. His dick has become fully hard at some point. Lance’s lets go of his nipple, and slides even lower. Shiro can’t believe it for a moment, but then he does indeed feel Lance’s mouth licking his dick. Shiro automatically thrusts, and Lance grabs it in his hand, his grip tight at its base. He just holds it for a long moment, twisting slightly with his wrist, before Shiro can feel the breath of Lance’s open mouth against the head of his cock.

The pleasure coming from both his ass and his cock is unbelievably good, and he feels pressure build in his thighs and abdomen as he tenses, euphoria pumping underneath his skin, red hot and churning, as it gathers and spins in his belly. Lance loudly sucks Shiro’s cockhead, his lips soft and firm against Shiro’s sensitive skin. He feels curious fingertips inspect his asshole, as his thighs and back shiver. Keith pulls back, and Shiro turns his head to see him walk over to the drawer on the other side of the room.

“Second – “ Shiro starts to say, but interrupts himself when he feels suddenly feels Lance swallowing his whole cock down in one go. Shiro gasps in surprise, feeling his cockhead slide down Lance’s throat, his dick throbbing in Lance’s wet heat. Shiro cries out, partly in surprise, partly because of the pleasure. No one ever took Shiro so easily and quickly before. But Lance is keening and chirping, breathing through his nose, which is pressed against Shiro’s pubes, effortlessly keeping Shiro in his mouth. He looks up as Shiro looks down, and it’s a breathtaking sight, his eyes big and dark as he pulls back, so far back Shiro’s cockhead stops to rest against the plush of Lance’s lips. Lance presses the tip of his tongue against the slit, then the into the underside of Shiro’s cock, pressing hard enough for Shiro’s back to arch in overstimulation. Before Shiro can as much as think to grab Lance’s hair to try and control the tempo, Lance has swallowed Shiro’s whole cock inside again, so quick Shiro starts to question if Lance even has a gag reflex.

But before he can determine, he feels warm, wet fingers press against his asshole and he keens as one presses in sweetly, driving Shiro to the edge. He feels Keith’s mouth nudge in-between his cheeks again, the finger still inside, and Shiro jerks his hips, but Lance takes it as a champ and suddenly it’s all over, and Shiro comes down Lance’s throat. He can feel Lance swallow around him, only making the aftershocks even stronger, his hips jerking randomly as Keith keeps fingering him.

Finally Keith pulls away his tongue and finger, and Lance pulls back, Shiro’s cock soft in his mouth. He smacks his lips, and rolls out from beneath Shiro, who falls down on his stomach, thankfully no mess to fall into. His heart beats rapidly, his breathing coming quick, his body overwhelmed by the orgasm. Keith gets up and goes to the bathroom, the sound of the tap being turned on echoing in the bedroom. Soon there’s the sound of Keith brushing his teeth.

Shiro’s skin is starting to crawl, his body feeling eerily numb and so incredibly sensitive at the same time. Even just the sensation of Lance spooning him, rubbing his side, feels like way too much. The touch is reassuring but electric, and Shiro feels himself panicking further realizing that he’s panicking, and tries to stand up to get away. His mood is dipping and he is regretting everything, and Lance is calling for Keith in a panicked voice.

“Shiro, don’t leave,” Lance calls out, sitting up in bed, unsettled. “Please tell me, what do you need? What do you need me to do?”

Shiro stares blankly at him, because he doesn’t know, and Lance seems to immediately realize it, draping the blanket on top of Shiro, and moving in to squeeze Shiro tightly. The squeezing sensation is oddly reassuring, like his body is focusing on the pressure rather than everything else.

Then Keith is nudging in on Shiro’s other side, curling his arms around Shiro’s waist, still outside the blanket to avoid skin contact, and gradually Shiro gets his breath back.

“Do you want some water?” Keith offers.

Shiro nods, his throat dry now that Keith mentions it, and as Keith gets up once more, Lance presses his face in between Shiro’s shoulder blades, and keeps stroking Shiro’s arm. Keith brings back water to drink, but Shiro’s hand is shaking and Keith ends up holding it as Shiro drinks.

The cool feeling pouring through his throat and down to his gut is soothing, but he declines another glass. Keith puts the glass on the floor, and slides in on Shiro’s other side, his body hot against Shiro’s front side. They’re breathing deeply and Shiro tries to follow Lance’s rhythm against his back.

Gradually he feels himself get his bearings, and when he does, he groans.

“You two didn’t even finish,” he whispers, noting that both of them have become soft.

“Don’t worry about that,” Lance replies, his voice husky and deep against Shiro’s neck. “Let’s just sleep, and talk about it tomorrow, alright?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end of "Ripples" and it will continue in a sequel. I hope to see you there, and i'm super thankful for not only all the kudos, but also all of the wonderful comments you people have dropped me. Thank you so much! The first chapter in the sequel should be up in a week or so.
> 
> EDIT: aaaand the sequel is up!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments fuel me.


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